



Georges Giiynemer, 'when he began his fight against 
the Boche. 



GUYNEMER 

THE ACE OF ACES 



BY 



JACQUES MORTANE 



TRANSLATED BY 



CLIFTON HARBY LEVY 

TOGETHER WITH TRANSCRIPTS FROM GUYNBMER's OWN 

NOTE-BOOK OF FLIGHT, AND PHOTOGRAPHIC 

FAC-SIMILES OF ITS PAGES 




NEW YORK 
MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 

1918 






Copyright, 1918, 

BY 

MOFFAT. YARD & CO. 



Second printing Auguit, 1918 



S)CU501T35 



SEP -7 !9i8 



TO THE 

AMERICAN AVIATOR 

THIS ENGLISH VERSION IS 

DEDICATED 

THAT HE MAY BE INSPIRED BY THE INDOMITABLE 
SPIRIT FOR VICTORY OF THE 
YOUTHFUL DAVID OF THE AIR 

GEORGES GUYNEMER 



PREFACE 

In the pages which I shall consecrate to 
the glorious hero of whom France is so 
proud, my aim will be to make him known 
just as he was in the aerodromes. It is the 
fighter, the master of technique whom we 
study in one. I shall add not a phrase to 
what the Ace of Aces was willing to confide 
to me in the conversations held with him. 
He agreed to tell me of his pursuits, and 
to give me his opinions, while I took notes 
scrupulously, writing at his dictation. I 
did not trust my memory, leaving to Guy- 
nemer's own words all of their flavor. My 
part was limited to being rather a faithful 
secretary to him who consented to speak to 
me about his profession with open soul. He 
knew my veneration for all that had to do 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

with the "Fifth Arm," remembering that 
the first article devoted to "Sergeant Guy- 
nemer" had been written by me. And these 
several ^reasons had formed a bond of sym- 
pathy between us of which I am very proud. 
So, it is with a species of piety that I take 
up my task, but before going further into 
it, it seems indispensable to reprint here the 
most magnificent article ever written about 
the Ace. 

This article, written by the President of 
our Council, M. Georges Clemenceau, for 
U Homme Libre „ when it was still "En- 
chained," is not only a splendid piece of 
literature, but is at the same time a most fas- 
cinating homage to Our Great Lost One. 
This is so from a double point of view, for it 
also contains the famous letter from Com- 
mandant Brocard read from the Tribune 
of the Chamber of Deputies. And I can 
not begin these notes better than with these 
admirable, vibrant lines: 



PREFACE ix 



GUYNEMER 



''The people need legends. Happily is 
this true, for the legend, drawn from the 
deeds themselves, gives birth to poesy, 
causes the hero fully realized to appear be- 
fore their eyes! 

"M. Lasies has had the great distinction, 
by asking a great mark of honor for Cap- 
tain Guynemer, of presenting to us the man 
of the legend, before the halo of recoil in the 
simplicity of facts. 

"It is indeed true that the facts them- 
selves must speak powerfully enough in 
themselves, if a youth of twenty is to fix 
himself without a word in the glory of mag- 
nificent renown at this time when French 
annals excel the ordinary measure of his- 
tory, laden with deeds of grandeur. 

"Have you noticed that no words come to 
us about the armies? Young and old, all 
the men of this epoch are draped in silence, 



X PREFACE 

finding no place in their souls save for the 
lost beauties of action. 

"A new warfare has surged upward from 
the depths of the unexpected. The pomp 
and decorum of chivalrous actions in which 
our ancestors delighted, the very ostentation 
of the Napoleonic plumes, which by con- 
trast called for the simplicity of the little 
hat and gray coat, have given way to sUent 
ranks of phantoms, wrapped in formless 
rags. They are petrified with mud, making 
their way through swamps of subterranean 
paths to plant their engines of death, and 
suddenly hurl their thunders upon an in- 
visible enemy, while others fly in their 
winged machines — supreme humiliation of 
Pegasus — for voiceless combats in the in- 
finite space of the blue vault. Beneath the 
earth or in the heavens, the novelty of the 
deeds of heroism outstrips the imagination. 
And so, behold, this race which was in love 
with warlike sestheticism, finding itself sud- 



PREFACE xi 

denly summoned to furnish victims to the 
devouring monster, War, in the shape of 
improvised combatants, equipped as none 
had ever dreamed. History is witness that 
without ado, without theatrical gesticula- 
tions, these soldiers of epic battles, France, 
at the first leap, has found them. 

"How difficult it is to find a little black 
point through a rift in the clouds, which, 
found again soon afterwards in the field 
of blue, is about to wrap itself in a mist 
of white smoke, which seems to be celebrat- 
ing in its honor, but which is only Death's 
messenger. That is Guynemer, far up there, 
or some other of the * Storks' under attack 
by German shrapnel. This war, beyond the 
range of vision, in the tragic infinity of 
space, where they face one another now, 
watched by all the world, sentinels lost from 
earth, who will exact something most beau- 
tiful for Humanity. 

"He who was able to place himself in the 



xu PREFACE 

first rank of that band of messengers from 
the earth to the heights, in response to the 
winged beings which the heavens sent us 
long ago, fully merits living among us as a 
symbol of one of the greatest efforts of the 
human will. 

"There, all alone, in the very highest, in 
the imperturbable calm of absolute self- 
possession, waiting for nothing but a succes- 
sion of unerring motions, by the correctness 
of eyesight and promptness of bold deci- 
sions, on the edge of a bottomless abyss 
ready to swallow everything without the 
supreme aid of a look or a hand of a friend, 
is that not something far above all the his- 
toric beauty of the greatest sacrifices for the 
noblest causes — something as it were of a 
miraculous concentration of superhuman- 
ity? To face every day, every day, the sub- 
lime adventure, in the sun, in the wind, in 
the rain, to pursue the enemy and seize upon 
the decisive moment miraculously, which 



PREFACE xiii 

will place him at the mercy of the camionad- 
ing, beneath the fugitive angle which is of- 
fered suddenly, and will never occur again, 
to begin, and begin again, every day, and 
to always come back victorious: this is the 
living Guynemer, now borne away in a great 
apotheosis, amid the acclamations of his 
companions in glory, sound judges as to the 
matter of heroism, which has become to 
them the habit of every moment. 

"Guynemer who was born to civil life, like 
so many of his companions, when WiUiam 
II. of Germany decided that the hour had 
come for France to demonstrate what she 
had preserved beneath the ashes of that no- 
bility of blood in which her history had been 
kneaded, Guynemer, without a word, de- 
cided to lift his France to the highest ! And 
upon that day when his destiny had been 
achieved, all of us bear witness, that with- 
out ever having taken the trouble to say it, 
he did it. 



xiv PREFACE 

"One day, it was granted me to clasp that 
hand in which not a quiver revealed the con- 
trol of the supreme power of nerves and 
resolution. Eyes of lovable youth ! A gen- 
tle smile of timidity! Simple quiet replies, 
with one of those gestures disguising the 
legitimate consciousness of great hours in- 
cessantly lived over! Captain Brocard, who 
had conquered the right of saying something 
about his friend, could not restrain himself 
from referring rapidly to the prodigy of his 
exploits, and the hero had made a gesture 
of silence, as if to excuse himself. In the 
greatest heart lies the purest simplicity. 

"This is all that I can say, for I would 
not pardon myself if I were led by tempta- 
tion to beflower, by too easy romanticism, 
the impeccable lines of that youthful France 
so classically realized. Nevertheless, M. 
Lasies assumed the duty of a brief commen- 
tary which he had the art to accompany by a 
brief adieu from his friends. 



PREFACE XV 

"This squadron of 'Storks' was founded 
in April, 1915, with an average effective of 
ten pilots. To-day it counts : killed or miss- 
ing, 22 ; wounded, 23. It has had six squad- 
ron-chiefs: 3 killed. Captain Auger, Lieu- 
tenant Peretti, Captain Guynemer; 3 
wounded, Commandant Brocard,. Captain 
Heurtaux, Lieutenant Deullin. 

"Really this tells everything. M. Lasies 
is to be thanked for having so understood. 

"Yet there is still room for these fine 
words of Lieutenant Raymond, the present 
Commandant of the 'Stork Squadron': 

" 'He was our friend and our master, our 
pride and our protection. His loss is the 
most cruel of all those, so numerous, alas, 
which have emblazoned our ranks. You 
may well believe that, nevertheless, our 
courage has not been beaten down with him. 
Our victorious revenge will be hard and in- 
exorable.' 

^'Finally Commandant Brocard, his chief. 



xvi PREFACE 

one of those wounded in this squadron, said : 

"His heroic fall is certainly not more 
glorious than that of the artilleryman who 
falls upon his cannon, of the infantryman 
slain in full assault, or than that of the poor 
soldier sadly engulfed in the mud. 

" *But for more than two years all of us 
have seen him cleaving the heavens above 
our heads, the heavens lighted up by shining 
sun or darkened by lowering tempests, bear- 
ing upon his poor wings a part of their 
dreams, of their faith in success, of all that 
our heart held of confidence and hope. 

" 'Guynemer was merely a powerful idea 
in a rather frail body, and I lived near him, 
with the secret sorrow of knowing that some 
day the idea would slay the container. 

" 'Poor boy ! All the children of France 
who wrote to him daily, to whom he was the 
marvelous ideal, vibrated with all his emo- 
tions, lived through his joys and suffered 
his dangers. He will remain, to them, the 



PREFACE xvii 

living model hero, greatest in all history. 
His name is on every lip and they love him 
as they have learned to love the purest 
glories of our country.' 

"What can be added? A tablet in the 
Pantheon, statues, speeches — pale pictures 
of the great deeds which Guynemer lived 
through in reality. Certainly this is not the 
time to speak ill of the mediocrity of the 
testimonials by which we are permitted to 
honor his real glories. However, since I 
can not but render my homage to the signal 
prodigality of French heroism displayed by 
so many heroes, unknown to us and pos- 
sibly to themselves (for they had neither 
the time nor any idea of taking account of 
their achievements) , as well as to Guynemer. 
who is the finest symbol of all this, stand- 
ing also for the history of the soldier with- 
out a history who falls all unattended for 
the most beautiful land of mankind, with- 
out a soul near him, to him I must render 



xviii PREFACE 

the acknowledgment of recollection. We 
give him this thought in the person at least 
of his representative Guynemer. He was 
great enough to have done that which he 
did without seeking recompense save in the 
silent consciousness of having done his full 
duty. 

"Saint Paul, with his hypothetic pen, *To 
an Unknown God,' would only have con- 
firmed the too precise criticism of a simple 
soul with respect to so many too well-known 
gods. When it happens that I see in our 
public places so many men of stone and 
bronze whom I have seen raised to honors 
of divinity in my time, I can not restrain 
myself from thinking of the great absent 
figures who out of the finest in themselves 
have created the deepest and the highest for 
the human race. They have no need of the 
encumbrance of marble, sometimes railed at 
by sneering critics, that the acknowledged 
homage of the sons of their thoughts rise 



PREFACE xix 

towards them. If it be possible for them 
to have any feelings in their tombs, I would 
rejoice indeed, for then, what we call glory 
would have some meaning. Our condition 
would like to have it so. For my part I 
have not decided, judging that life itself, 
even though short, is a sufficiently beautiful 
adventure in that unknown, if it is given us 
to live, like Guynemer, long or short, a part 
of the infinite. The statues themselves per- 
ish, will perish. What they express, if it 
be merited, will have accomplished no less 
in bringing to man the most precious treas- 
ure of this world: the fugitive reasons for 
hope. 

"This completes the modest value of my 
respectful salutation to Guynemer. He is 
in the first rank of that youth, born of us, 
which on the very first day proclaimed itself 
upon the field of battle as the resolute re- 
pairer of the mistakes of the past. Guy- 
nemer is one of those children whom we 



XX PREFACE 

made ourselves think were among us, in 
those frightful days when I saw strong men 
nearly despairing. May he be thanked, hon- 
ored, celebrated in the starry night of his 
death, for having encouraged us and helped 
us more than many professional eneour- 
agers and helpers, in that which we have 
done, in that which we shall do. Action has 
no need of other recompense than that of 
propagating action. . . . 

"G. Clemenceau." 

Are not lines like these the consecration, 
we might ;say historically, of the hero who 
inspired them? They show beauty of char- 
acter, they illumine the glory of valor, they 
make us feel the extent of the loss felt by 
France. 



A FOREWORD 

ADVICE TO BOCHE^HUNTERS 

By Captain Georges Guynemer 

The public as a rule has a false idea of 
hunting and the hunters. They very easily 
imagine that we are way up there at our 
ease, directing events, and that the nearer 
we are to heaven the more we are invested 
with Divine Power. It is the duty of the 
journalists to educate their readers and pre- 
vent them from cherishing opinions as wrong 
as they are pitiable. I can not express in 
words the enervation which I feel sometimes 
while listening to the inept remarks ad- 
dressed to me, in the form of compliments, 
and which I am compelled to accept with a 
smile, which is almost a bite. I want to 

xxi 



mi A FOREWORD 

shout out to the speaker: ''But, my poor 
fellow, you ought not to speak about this 
subject, for you know nothing whatever 
about it. You do not understand the first 
word of it all, and you can hardly believe 
how little your eulogies please me, under the 
circumstances." 

But if I answered in this way, no one 
would think of honoring my sincerity, or 
my desire to spread sane ideas — rather all 
would declare that I was a rude fellow, pre- 
tentious and a swaggerer, or something 
worse. 

This is the reason that I listen, remain 
dumb and let the enervation gnaw at me. 
Some tell me : "It is better to leave to hunt- 
ing that mysterious atmosphere which serves 
as an aureole to the Ace. If the layman 
were to become competent to judge, he 
would possibly no longer hold the same ad- 
miration for the hunters." You will admit 
that this suggestion is not very flattering to 



A FOREWORD xxiii 

us. In fine, according to this suggestion, 
we are interesting to them only because they 
know nothing about our work. 

All the less have we any reason to con- 
ceal the intricacies of aerial combat, and it 
is the duty of those who use them to explain 
them in such a way as to render a real serv- 
ice to the young and to demonstrate to the 
greater public that if we are sometimes 
worth something, it is not always for the 
reasons which they suppose. 

They say of me: "Guynemer is a lucky 
dog." 

Certainly, I am really a lucky dog, for I 
have added up forty-nine (this was written 
before the grand total was made) victories 
and am still alive, and I might have been 
killed during my first fight. If we talk this 
way, every person alive to-day is lucky; for 
he might have died yesterday. De la 
Palisse reasons in this fashion because he 
knows nothing about hunting by aeroplane. 



xxiv A FOREWORD 

But I might astonish some persons con- 
siderably if I answered: "It's a good thing 
that I was a lucky dog, for I have been 
brought down by the enemy on seven dif- 
ferent occasions." 

I know that they will rejoin that this was 
really luck, for I managed to escape death. 
But we could continue the discussion eter- 
nally on the same subject and I prefer to 
abstain from it. Was it luck that day, when 
carried along by the great speed of my Nieu- 
port, I rushed right past a Boche, giving 
him a chance to puncture an arm and wound 
me in the jaw? Was that luck, my fall 
of 3,000 meters after a shell had passed 
through a wing of the machine? And how 
many episodes there are of a similar char- 
acter! Certainly, I do not wish to pretend 
that the question of chance, which I call 
Providence, does not intervene in war. But 
between that and the assurance that every 
act is guided by a manifestation of a good 



A FOREWORD xxv 

star — there is a world of difference. The 
lucky dog is he, who after having done his 
duty throughout the war, comes back safe 
and sound. He is the pilot who escapes all 
perils, the poilu who has safely taken part 
in every offensive. But how many will they 
be, the actors in the tragedy who will be 
present when the curtain is rung down for 
the last time? 

And if I dispute this opinion so sharply, 
as far as it concerns me, it is not, certes, 
because I am annoyed, but, on the contrary, 
because I believe that it is rendering a poor 
service to say that we succeed in any human 
activity through luck. Notwithstanding 
everything, we shall end by assuming a con- 
fidence which becomes exaggerated rash- 
ness under the pretext that we are a "lucky 
dog." Your pupils will attempt foolish im- 
prudences, saying * 'I, too, am lucky." And 
in space it is, nine chances out of ten, that 
you will think you see luck when you 



xxvi A FOREWORD 

meet with death. It is an error of vision! 

Yet if we will only eliminate this factor 
we shall recognize the fact that neither that 
unfortunate Dorme nor I are instances of 
the effect of chance upon the career of aero- 
plane-hunters. He was surnamed "Invul- 
nerable" because he almost always came 
back from his cruises without a scratch. 
We were almost astounded if his aeroplane 
bore the mark of a single bullet. With me, 
on the contrary, I had the special faculty 
of coming back with missiles all over my 
machine. 

Why was there this difference? We had 
almost the same methods of attack. We 
proceeded along uniform principles, ap- 
proaching the enemy to point-blank dis- 
tance. What then? The reason is plain: 
Dorme was better at manoeuvering than I. 
He called upon his skill to help him at the 
moment of attack, and when he judged that 
he was not sure of success, he went into a 



A FOREWORD xxvii 

spin and broke away from the duel. I, on 
the contrary, used the normal method of 
flying, never having recourse to acrobatics, 
unless it was the last means to be employed. 
I stayed close to my adversary, as if I were 
mad. When I held him, I would not let 
him go. These two systems have their ad- 
vantages and their defects, which should not 
astonish you, for perfection is not of this 
world. It would be most interesting to dis- 
sect both methods, but you must see that 
this is impossible for me to do. 

I can draw but one conclusion from these 
two methods of fighting, and it is of capital 
importance. 

It is that hunting must be done according 
to the temperament and character of each 
individual hunter. If it show itself as in- 
dividual prowess, all the better. This must 
be cried out aloud, for many young men 
come to the squadron with false ideas and 
arrested wills, planning to bring down 



xxviii A FOREWORD 

Boches in the style of Dorme or Heurtaux. 
He who has in him the quality of a cham- 
pion is the pilot who has recourse to his own 
initiative, to his own judgment, to his own 
personal equation. 



Georges Marie Ludovic Guynemer was born in 
'Paris, December 2^., 189^. His father, Paul Guy- 
nemer, was a retired officer, who devoted much of his 
Mme to historical research and was especially inter- 
ested in tracing the Guynemer descent bach as far as 
the Xlth Century. 

Georges attended a school in Compiegne, and later, 
when twelve years of age, entered Stanislas College 
in Paris. At the end of the first year he was given 
first prize for Latin and Mathematics. In school 
sports he proved himself agile and ambitious, even 
though he was very slender and more or less delicate. 
He afterwards entered the School of Polytechnics and 
specialized in mathematics. He had been especially 
fond of mechanical toys and devices, building toy 
aeroplanes, and he delighted in the study of physics 
and chemistry, almost blowing himself to bits on 
more than one occasion, with some of his chemical 
compounds. 

At the age of twenty, Guynemer volunteered for 
service on November 23, 191^. On account of his 
physical weakness he was refused admission no less 
than five times, but finally succeeded in being ac- 
cepted as a student mechanic, April 26th, 1915. 

C, H. L. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface vii 

Foreword by Georges Guynemer . . . xxi 

CHAPTER 

I The First Fights 1 

II The Ace of Aces in Action . . 5 

III Special Missions 13 

IV Battles in the Air 17 

V The Battle Royal 23 

VI The Beginnings 33 

VII From Success to Success ... 43 

VIII A Game with the Boche ... 51 

IX Convalescents in the Open . . 57 

X Guynemer Plays a New Game . 62 

XI Citations of Victory .... 68 

XII Struck BY A Shell AT 3,000 Meters 72 

XIII A Long Chase 81 

XIV Guynemer Celebrates His Birth- 

day WITH A Boche .... 89 

XV A Battle without a Gun ... 96 

XVI The Outrages at Nancy ... 99 

XVII A First Triple 1X0 

XVIII Vengeance is Stronger than 

Death 116 

XIX The Magic Quadruple .... 120 



XXX CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XX An Enemy Picture of Guynemer 128 

XXI An Officer of the Legion of 

Honor 134 

XXII Eleven Shots FOR Three BocHEs . 139 

XXIII A Modest Hero 144 

XXIV Victories of the New Aeroplane 153 
XXV Never at the Rear 161 

XXVI The Last Flight ..... 168 

XXVII The Fifty-three Victories Won 
BY Guynemer as Told by Him- 
self IN His Note-books of 

Flight 179 

XXVIII Record at Verdun 192 

XXIX From Note-book — ^Volume II . . 202 

XXX Six Flights in Two Hours . . 212 

XXXI The Fatal Year 223 

Appendix 

The Action of the French Con- 
gress AND Senate 240 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Georges Guynemer, when he began his fight 
against the Boche Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Guynemer at six years of age ..... 6- 
Guynemer when ten years of age .... 6 
The first flight of the Ace of Aces .... 14 
Second Lieutenant Guynemer, and a Boche 

victim 24 

Photograph made by Guynemer himself, show- 
ing the bombs bursting around his plane, 
while he was on a reconnaissance over the 

German lines 36 

Guynemer shot down from a height of over 
9,000 feet by a French cannon — ^but he only 

suffered a bruised knee ! 48 

One of Guynemer's victims — ^first shot to 
pieces, then burned almost to a cinder . . 48 < 

"The Winged Sword of France" .... 60 

Brought down by a Boche — ^but within the 
French lines. The machine alone was in- 
jured 70 

Guynemer's application to the Minister of 
War for a Pilot's License, endorsed most 
warmly by the head of his Aviation School 78 

A page from Guynemer's own note-book of 
flight, which records his first victory, July 

21, 1915 90 

xxxi 



xxxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

La Sixieme Victoire 90 

Still the hero of all France 102 

Piece of the canvas from one of Guynemer's 

Il^wings, pierced by a Boche bullet June 7, 
|1917, signed by him and given to Captain 
pLasies . 112 

Guynemer, with the Military Medal and 
"Legion of Honor" 122 

Guynemer and his machine, after a 3,000 
metre tumble 122 

Captain Guynemer decorated with the Rosette 
of the Legion of Honor, in the presence of 
the troops of France 132 

He has just received the Rosette of an Officer 
of the Legion of Honor 132 

Guynemer face to face with a defeated Boche 146 
The debris of three aeroplanes brought down 

by the Ace in one day, March 16, 1917 . 156 

Guynemer ready for patrol 156 

Guynemer and his faithful gunner, Guerder . 168 

Guynemer's favorite aeroplane "Vieux 
Charles," on exhibition in Paris . . . .180 

On the very eve of his death, September 10, 
1917, when the Ace was obliged to land at a 
Belgian aerodrome for repairs .... 192 

His eighth victory 204 

Last page of Guynemer's flight-book, telling of 
his disappearance 204 

Guynemer's pilot-card, reproduced in "Die 
Woche" of Berlin, after his death ... 226 

Visiting card of a Boche, brought down by 
Guynemer 226 



GUYNEMER 

THE ACE OF ACES 



GUYNEMER, 
THE ACE OF ACES 

CHAPTER I 

THE FIRST FIGHTS 

I KNEW the future Ace by name for sev- 
eral months. But I exaggerate, for they 
did not always pronounce his name the 
same : sometimes it was Guynemer, at others 
Guymener. But I knew from his comrades 
that this young man, this youth called for 
admiration from all who came near him or 
saw his work. Writing a series on "The 
Stirring Flights of the War" at that time, 
I had but one desire — to know this pilot of 
whom every one already spoke only with 
respect. He had known how to impress 



2 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

himself upon all by his mastery and bold- 
ness. 

Thanks to some common friends, I was 
introduced to him one day when he came to 
get some apparatus at the "General Avia- 
tion Reserve." In order to converse we 
went to a small cafe of Bourget. I must 
admit that then as now it was forbidden to 
the military to take alcohol, so our first in- 
terview took place back of the shop, with a 
small glass of Cinchona cordial: the viola- 
tion, you see, was quite innocuous! 

There were several present. Sergeant 
Guynemer talked very little before so many. 
He made vague statements, telling of his 
fights piecemeal. I was interested but far 
from satisfied. By trade I required more 
precision. But my talker seems indisposed 
to speak before so many. 

"I want to write an article about you," I 
said to him. 

He looked at me with those piercing eyes 



THE FIRST FIGHTS 3 

of his, as if he were taking counsel with 
himself, and after several seconds, said: 

"All right, but on condition that you do 
not mention my name!" 

Such was his modesty. He would not let 
me publish a name which soon thereafter 
was to be pronounced with veneration by 
the entire world. 

"With that understanding let us get close 
together at another table, where we shall be 
perfectly at ease as we converse." 

He consented, and seemed to be relieved 
at not having to talk so publicly. Difficult 
as he had seemed to interview before, and 
slow of speech, when we were smoking in 
each other's faces, he went into all details, 
told me stories, not omitting a single fact 
by which we could follow completely his 
earlier combats. And every time I saw him 
afterwards, I found him thus: rather silent 
and even taciturn before a gallery, but a 
brilliant, precise talker when alone with me. 



4 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

As soon as he began to talk aviation, and 
especially pursuit, he did not stop and I was 
always charmed with his conversation. H^-^ 
was inexhaustible, passing from one subject 
to the other, citing a fight of one of his com- 
rades, admiring the courage of another, pro- 
testing with conviction and anger against 
the lack of knowledge of others, returning 
to the subject of conversation and then tak- 
ing up another. With inexhaustible energy 
he seemed to be afraid that he would not 
have time enough to tell me all that he 
wanted to tell. He advised me to write an 
article upon a certain subject, suggested an 
idea to begin with, begged me to urge a re- 
form and finally consented to take up again 
the purpose of our conversation, which in- 
terested me most : his victories. When I left 
him, I had a note-book almost filled, one 
pencil worn down and . . . a cramped hand. 
But what a harvest I 



CHAPTER II 

THE ACE OF ACES IN ACTION 

Our first interview dates from December, 
1915. Guynemer had just come from his 
fourteenth fight. I transcribe here faith- 
fully the notes which I took that very day 
at his dictation: 

"My first meeting with a Boche took place 
on July 19th. I was on a two-seated 'Para- 
sol' with Guerder, my mechanic, as passen- 
ger. I had promised myself for some time 
to undertake a pursuit in my aeroplane, but 
I had always been ordered on reconnais- 
sances, photographic missions, and that kind 
of work did not suit me at all. It is not that 
it is lacking in interest, but it is less stirring. 
It is useful, of course, but how monotonous. 
And, besides, it is always set aside for the 



6 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

newcomers in the squadrons, and I wanted 
to show that grit was not the exclusive pos- 
session of the older men. 

"A Boche had been sighted at Coeuvres, 
and so I took flight with Guerder and was 
soon in pursuit of the enemy. Shortly after- 
wards we saw him just over Pierrefonds, 
but he saw us at the same moment and fled 
precipitately. As his plane was faster than 
ours there was no possibility of catching him. 
Nevertheless, the joy of finding our first 
adversary made us attempt the most impos- 
sible things. From a great distance, a very 
great distance, we fired at him, possibly 
without any real hope of hitting him, but 
steadily nevertheless. We pursued him as 
far as the Coucy aerodrome, where we saw 
him alight. He must have been well satis- 
fied with his performance: as a 'fleer' he 
was most remarkable. But this displeased 
us greatly. We had gone out to beat down 
a Boche (and when we left we had no doubt 




Guynemer ivhen six 
years old. 




Guynemer at ten years 
of age. 



THE ACE OF ACES IN ACTION 7 

of success), but we had to go back empty- 
handed. 

"There we were, with these sad thoughts, 
when suddenly another black point appeared 
on the horizon. Oh, joy, hurry with all speed 
towards him. As we came nearer the point 
became larger and was soon plain, as a 
Boche: it was an Aviatik sailing at about 
3,200 meters. He was moving towards the 
French lines, thinking only of what he 
might find ahead, but appearing not to think 
for a moment that an enemy bent upon de- 
stroying him was in his wake. Poor fellow, 
he did not dream that on his track were two 
young fellows determined not to return to 
the squadron without performing their task, 
two young fellows who, in total ignorance 
of hunting, were convinced that all game 
met with was to be beaten down, and believ- 
ing that to return to headquarters without 
a Boche would mean derision. 

"And we hurried towards that plane. 



8 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

which really belonged to us, we thought. It 
was not until Soissons was reached that we 
came up with him, and there the combat 
took place. During the space of ten min- 
utes everybody in the city watched the fan- 
tastic duel over their heads. I kept about 
fifteen meters from my Boche, below, back 
of and to the left of him, and, notwithstand- 
ing all his twistings, I managed not to lose 
touch with him. Guerder fired 115 shots, 
but could not fire precisely, as his gun 
jammed continually. On the other hand, in 
the course of the fight my companion was 
hit by one bullet in the hand and another 
*combed' his hair. He answered with his 
rifle, shooting well. We began to ask our- 
selves how this duel was going to end, but 
at the 115th shot fired by Guerder, I had a 
feeling, very sweet I will admit, at seeing the 
pilot fall to the bottom of his car, while the 
'lookout' raised his arms to heaven in a ges- 
ture of despair and the Aviatik did a nose 



THE ACE OF ACES IN ACTION 9 

spin, and plunged down into the abyss in 
flames. He fell between the trenches. I 
hastened to land not far away, and I can 
guarantee that I never felt a greater elation 
than at that moment. 

"At last I was able to live my dream ! I, 
who had so long desired to join in the fight- 
ing, had managed to gain a victory. What 
shall I say about the reception given me by 
the troops on the ground : ovations, congrat- 
ulations, all under the vengeful cannon of 
the enemy. I have beaten down other 
Boches since that time, but when I think 
over my aerial duels my recollections always 
fly back to that first one. 

"Two days later I received a letter which 
gave me the highest satisfaction, for it 
proved to me the friendliness of the infan- 
try. They have so often said that the in- 
fantry is jealous of the aviators that I was 
happy at this testimony of sympathy. It 
proved to me that if at times the 'Poilu' does 



10 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

not love the pilots, it applies to certain ex- 
ceptions of which the 'fifth arm' is not over- 
proud." 

With charming modesty Guynemer did 
not wish me to make a copy of the letter 
of which he had spoken with such deep emo- 
tion. He explained that the one who signed 
it might not be pleased to see it given pub- 
licity. He added that if it were printed his 
comrades might think that he was trying to 
get unfair publicity. It was only after I 
had promised that I would not use it that 
the hero allowed me to make a copy of it for 
my personal collection. The Ace of Aces 
is no more. Those who honor his memory 
are no longer restrained by the discretion 
which he showed, hence I quote the follow- 
ing: 

"July 20, 1915. 
"Lieutenant- Colonel Maillard, commanding 
the regiment of Infantry, to Cor- 



THE ACE OF ACES IN ACTION 11 

poral Pilot Guynemer and Mechanician 
Guerder, of Squadron M. S. 3, at Vau- 
ciennes. The Lieutenant- Colonel, the 
Officers, all the Regiment: 
"Witnesses of the aerial combat in which 
you took part above their trenches, with a 
German Aviatik, have applauded spon- 
taneously at your victory which terminated 
by the vertical fall of your adversary, and 
they address to you their warmest felicita- 
tions and share the joy which you must 
have felt after so brilliant a success. 

"MAILI.ARD." 

The official recognition followed on the 
next day. The Military Medal recom- 
pensed the two victors. Here is the trans- 
script of the one to the Pilot: "Corporal 
Guynemer, a Pilot full of spirit and bold- 
ness, volunteering for the most dangerous 
missions, after a sharp pursuit, has met a 
German aeroplane in a combat, which ended 



12 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

by setting it on fire and bringing it to 
earth." 

Guynemer, not forgetting his friends, 
added to his report : 

"Vedrines, who up to this time had shown 
me a fine spirit of fellowship, was one of 
the first to congratulate me. He had come 
up in an automobile, and seeing me so 
happy, so overjoyed, did not wish me to go 
back piloting the aeroplane : as he was afraid 
that I might refuse or feel hurt in some way, 
he explained his purpose with such fine deli- 
cacy that I could not refuse. He said that 
as he had been, as it were, my mentor in the 
squadron up to this day, he was very anx- 
ious to escort the victor of the day to the 
aerodrome. It was impossible for me to re* 
ject so friendly a suggestion, so it was ai 
Vedrines' passenger that I went back to the 
station of M. S. 3 on the plane which had 
just brought me my success." 



CHAPTER III 

SPECIAL MISSIONS 

Eager for all the facts, I persuaded Guy- 
nemer to consult his note-book of flight, so 
that there be no mistake of memory, and not 
to omit one interesting story. He submitted 
gracefully to this journalistic exigency. 

"It is true," said he, '^I was about to for- 
get to tell you that I had performed two 
special missions on September 29th and Oc- 
tober 1st." 

The special mission at that time was all 
the fashion. The fashion is only a mode of 
speech, for we never find many amateurs. 
It is an ungrateful task, dangerous, with 
many terrible results, and is executed only 
by volunteers. Vedrines was the great Ace : 
he executed seven of these. Guynemer, be- 
longing to the same squadron, did not hesi- 

13 



14 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

tate an instant. He offered at once to serve. 

What is a "Special Mission"? The 
enemy having published the story of two 
men who have performed these missions, we 
are telling him nothing when we say that it 
has to do with two aviators departing to- 
gether, going over the territory of the 
enemy and returning separately. 

"The first," said Guynemer, "was hard 
enough, for the weather was execrable. I 
had the wind at my back on the way out, 
but when coming back it blew straight 
against me, and I was afraid I would never 
get back. It took three hours to complete 
my task, and I thought all the time that I 
would never be able to regain our lines. 

"The second was even more fertile in in- 
cidents, and after it I swore never to try 
anything like it again. They had told me 
the place which I was to study. I left and 
everything went without incident, until I 
reached the place pointed out to me. I 




The first flight of the Ace of Aces. 



SPECIAL MISSIONS 15 

stopped my motor so as not to attract any 
notice, and descended in spirals. Two fields 
were beneath my wings: one magnificent, a 
real billiard-table, seeming to make despair- 
ing appeals to me ; the other filled with ruts, 
rough, all cut up into furrows, the very last 
place that any one would think of landing. 
I did not hesitate, selecting the former. 
And I continued to descend. While plan- 
ing downward I could not help reflecting. 
That green earth which seemed to have put 
on festal garments to receive me, was it not 
too beautiful to be hospitable? Attention! 
I looked carefully, and what did I see? 
Steel wires all across it in treacherous fash- 
ion. It was a ruse of the Boches — a trap 
for pilots! 

"What chance had I to be distrustful? 
Quickly I turned on the gas and climbed 
upwards, and all the more did I decide to 
land on the other ground, the bad place 
which I had just disparaged a moment be- 



16 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

fore. Now it seemed most favorable. So 
it was, and notwithstanding several disquiet- 
ing bumps on landing I had the satisfac- 
tion of finding that not a bit of my plane 
was damaged. Some seconds later I rose 
without trouble and began my flight anew. 
All ended well, but I had come near being 
singed. Really, the special mission is a 
mean job." 

A second citation recompensed the Pilot: 

"He has proved his valor, energy and 
coolness by accomplishing as a volunteer an 
important and difficult mission during 
stormy weather." 

And we came back to hunting expedi- 
tions, for I did not dare question Guynemer 
about his start. I kept this subject for an- 
other time. I was afraid at this first inter- 
view of boring him with too many questions, 
and so I kept the recital of all his fights for 
another day. 



CHAPTER IV 

BATTLES IN THE AIR 

"On September 30th, when I was in a 
single-seated plane at 3,200 meters (it is 
notable that all my duels in the air took 
place at this altitude), more than 30 kilo- 
meters within the lines of the enemy, I 
was challenged by a Fokker. My rapid-fire 
gun jammed and I could not get it work- 
ing. I was in a position where I could not 
reply to fire. The enemy, when 50 meters 
from me, fired no less than 200 times, and 
by a miracle did no more than puncture one 
of my tires. But the situation might change 
from one moment to another, and the chance 
was that the Boche would finally hit me in 
a less kindly way. I had to find some speedy 

solution. A sea of clouds floated some 500 

17 



18 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

meters beneath us, and I did not hesitate, 
notwithstanding the advice always given us, 
to avoid clouds and mist, to plunge at full 
speed into the expanse of cloud and disap- 
pear from the eyes of my adversary, who 
certainly had already counted me as beaten 
down, to be added to the list of his con- 
quests. 

"This disappearance, which was much like 
the dropping of the traitor through a trap- 
door in a melodrama, must have upset all 
the calculations of the Boche. For ten min- 
utes I lay hidden in that sea of mist. I 
could see nothing, but — and that was the 
main point — I was not seen. The Fokker 
had to stand on guard and I had to avoid 
falling foul of him. Here again luck helped 
me: I shot up, climbing rapidly. When I 
reached the open air, I found myself lean- 
ing on one wing, but soon regained my 
equiUbrium. The enemy was no longer 
there, and I did not wait for him : I hastened 



BATTLES IN THE AIR 19 

to regain our lines, breathing more than one 
sigh of relief. 

*'0n November 6th there was a new in- 
cident for my eighth fight, and this, too, on 
account of my gun jamming. Really, my 
rapid-fire guns gave me endless trouble. I 
must admit that it is because I had not 
studied how they worked with suflicient 
care. But I did finally learn how to handle 
them, and now when they jam it is because 
they can not help it. On this day my gun 
was frozen and refused to go off. If I had 
know then what I know now I would only 
have had to press on the percussion-cap and 
the frozen oil would not have resisted any 
longer. But the hunter has to learn how to 
hunt. 

"I was over Rozieres-en-Santerre, at 
3,200 meters, as usual, when I saw a superb 
150 horse-power L. V. G. with a Para- 
bellum quick-firer. 

"I began by trying to face him so as to 



so GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

fire, when I found that my rapid-fire gun 
had not the least murderous intention. It 
seemed as if the good Boche god were pro- 
tecting him. But I, my French God, the 
true God, was He about to abandon me? 
What was I to do? No clouds about to-day 
— I must find some other way out. 

"Only one resource was left, to use the 
enemy as a shield! I turned on one wing, 
passed below him and remained about two 
meters below the body of his machine. I 
regulated my speed by his, and from a dis- 
tance we must have looked like one gigantic 
apparatus. You may be sure that I lost not 
a single detail of the German device. But 
what was the use, for I had not even a re- 
volver to shoot with, but the Boche would 
have been at my mercy with the most inof- 
fensive weapon. 

"He, who had me at the moment I turned, 
had no more warlike ardor. He must have 
been very much annoyed, for he had fol- 



BATTLES IN THE AIR 21 

lowed each move, and knew that I was very 
close to him, just underneath. He, too, 
must have had his regrets ; if there had only 
been a trapdoor under his seat he could al- 
most have knocked me down by a kick on 
the head. But, is it not true that the plane 
builders could not think of everything, and 
would hardly have dreamed that aeroplanes 
ever would be used for a dual parade like 
this. The person above hardly dared to 
make a motion downward for fear of coming 
too close to me, and being dragged down 
by my fall. He certainly flew perfectly 
straight and level. As for myself, finding 
it too foolish to be in this position without 
being able to take advantage of it, I fussed 
with my gun again, trying to get it to work. 
I had, of course, to drop the steering con- 
trol. It was certainly not the moment to 
do such a thing. Suddenly I saw that I 
was about to collide with the only Boche 
with whom I seemed to have an understand- 



22 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ing. Judging that the danger was immi- 
nent, I quickly gave a blow at the foot-lever 
to the right to avoid telescoping, and in 
the resulting turn my left wing caught the 
right wing of the enemy: it was a moment 
of high tension, you will easily understand. 
But it was nothing, only a little bit of cloth 
was torn from my apparatus. We parted, 
on even wing, but reestablished our rela- 
tive position as if we had always sailed to- 
gether in twin-fashion. And I can assure 
you that the Boche did not try to profit by 
the situation: he speeded away as fast as 
possible, without stopping to see whether I 
could find my way alone. I think that if he 
has not yet been killed he will not soon for- 
get this experience. The 'Siamese Twins 
of the Air' might well serve as the title of 
our joint recollections. 

^'But these diflPerent contests did not in- 
crease the number of my victories, so I did 
not find them at all to my taste." 



CHAPTER V 

A BATTI.E ROYAL 

^'The 5th, 8th and 14th of Decemher 
were to be more favorable for me. On the 
first day, while I was cruising around, I 
fought with an Aviatik over the forest of 
Ourseamp. I had been watching him for 
an hour and a half. He had made several 
attempts to cross the French lines and every 
time he saw me he fled, only to come back 
again a little later. I could not continue this 
game of hide-and-seek indefinitely. I dashed 
towards him and got him. He received me 
with two shots from his rapid-firer. I re- 
plied by a row of 47 cartridges, and almost 
at once saw with joy that he was falling, all 
a-whirl. During the fall, at 200 meters be- 
low me, I beheld a really tragic spectacle: 

23 



M GUVNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

in a sudden twist of the aeroplane left to 
itself, one of its two passengers was thrown 
overboard and dashed to the earth. 

"My victory was more conclusive on De- 
cember 8th. I was on my way to cruise in 
the sector of Roye-Nesle. I had about fin- 
ished, after gaining some interesting infor- 
mation, but not having seen a single Boche 
in the air. I turned towards our quarters and 
was getting ready to come down, when upon 
turning my head to see whether I had left 
the air clear, I saw far over the enemy lines, 
and much higher than I was, a large, superb 
foe. Ah, there was the wished-for prey! 
Without stopping to see whether I had 
plenty of gas aboard, I hastened towards 
him. He was coming towards our territory. 
I let him come on, for my success of the 5th, 
when I could find only the body of the 
'Lookout,' had determined me to bring 
down the Boches within our liheK whenever 
I could, if the occasion permitted. I re- 




Second Lieutenant Guynemer and a Boche victim. 



A BATTLE ROYAL 25 

strained myself all I could while awaiting 
the arrival of my foe. It required no less 
than thirty minutes, and I admit that I was 
most impatient all that time. I mapped out 
my plan of combat. I recalled all the con- 
ditions under which earlier fights had taken 
place, and drew certain conclusions, not, 
however, without saying to myself that my 
entire plan would probably not correspond 
with the facts. And I really preferred to 
have it so, that I might gain by experience 
a knowledge of the principles of aerial hunt- 
ing. 

"Finally my Boche came near. He passed 
over the trenches of Beuvraigne, zigzagging 
all the way, to see whether he was pursued, 
or if there was anything to fear. He was a 
careful man! But, nevertheless, he did not 
see me. I took advantage of this! I came 
up from the rear and overtook him in a few 
minutes, swooping down upon him some 
twenty meters below me. I fired a volley 



26 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

of 47 cartridges. The Boche, a large 
L. V. G., turned over at once and caught 
fire. I had hardly the time to see him 
pirouette in space, the effect was so sudden. 
"As had been the case three days earlier, 
the passenger was tossed out of the appara- 
tus by this sudden twist caused by my shots. 
He fell in a wood in Bus. And the aviator 
continued his fall into the abyss! Fire had 
broken out almost at once. At 1,500 meters 
I saw an awful thing: the pilot in his turn 
was tossed out of the cockpit. He had sat 
there motionless, jolted, tossed about like a 
puppet. He was dead! But his fall had 
been brought about by the fire. His belt be- 
ing burned through, he had swayed with the 
aeroplane at every turn, until it turned com- 
pletely over and he fell out. This sight was 
really tragic. The unfortunate man was 
dashed to bits at Tilloloy, some four kilo- 
meters from the body of his comrade. As to 
the aeroplane, it fell some hundred meters 



A BATTLE ROYAL 27 

the other side of the line. It was really a 
collection of scattered elements. 

"Now comes an incident which is rather 
amusing, proving how well I had cooperated 
with the other 'Arms' that day. The Boches 
came out of their trenches to recover the 
debris of the aeroplane which had made a 
great explosion with its bombs when it 
struck the ground. At the instant our ar- 
tillery fired, getting several victims. The 
survivors did not seem any more interested 
in aviation and hastened to take refuge in 
a small neighboring house. The cannons 
continued and demolished the shelter, which 
buried in its ruins all the enemies who had 
deemed themselves safe there. 

"Thanks to my victory, the French had 
accomplished a double stroke. And I was 
quite proud of it, I am free to admit, with- 
out any false modesty. As to my good luck, 
just think! At the moment I landed I did 



28 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

not have more than two liters of gasoline. 
It was high time! 

"In the following week, the 14th, Bucquel 
and I had gone out as an escort of some 
bombarding planes, which were to operate 
upon the aerodrome of Hervilly. I sighted 
a Fokker, which, in the course of a fight with 
a Voisin, had had its observer killed: the 
French pilot had seen him crumple up at 
the stern. Bucquet started out in pursuit of 
this Boche, already heavily handicapped, cut 
off his retreat and saw but one person on 
board. At last I came up. The Fokker 
gave the impression of being abandoned, 
out of order. It came towards me, so to 
speak, as if it recognized a friend. He did 
not know what he was doing. Of course I 
took advantage of the situation; I fired 35 
shots at short range, and as he was above 
me and my four comrades helped the enemy 
to go down to the nether regions, he nearly 
caught me as he fell. 



A BATTLE ROYAL ^9 

"Soon thereafter I attacked a second 
Fokker (single-seat) , firing through the pro- 
peller, looking much hke a 14 meter Mo- 
rane-Saulnier. He seemed to have a 100 
horse-power, single-valve motor. Then 
came a real phantasia. We turned about 
one another almost vertically, less than ten 
meters apart, each one hoping to get the 
favorable position. As soon as we found the 
other in the line of fire we fired. I was em- 
barrassed, for my spring was twisted and I 
had to work my rapid-firer with my hand 
over my head. And in this series of meeting 
manoeuvers two hands were not too much. 
It looked as if the fight would end in a col- 
lision. I had fired 21 cartridges when it 
seemed to me that the fatal telescoping was 
certain. I pulled on my levers and literally 
jumped over my adversary as a horse jumps 
a barrier at Auteuil. I can state that my 
wheels passed not more than 50 centimeters 
over the Eoche's head. Disheartened, he 



30 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

preferred not to insist. I asked nothing bet- 
ter, for my plane was more or less injured: 
a valve-rocker torn out, an inlet pipe mashed, 
the coil pierced, not counting many holes in 
the wings, the rudder, the body and huge 
notches in the propeller which had been hit 
by a bullet and the debris of the rocker. It 
had held together miraculously, notwith- 
standing all these breaks, and was not 
smashed. A descending cable was also sev- 
ered. For my fourteenth fight I had been 
royally served." 

Such was my first conversation with Ser- 
geant Guynemer, who a few days later, De- 
cember 24, 1915, in celebration of his twenty- 
first birthday, received the Cross of a Cheva- 
lier of the Legion of Honor with this in- 
scription : 

"Pilot of Great Valor, filled with devo- 
tion and courage. Within six months he has 
carried out two special missions requiring 



A BATTLE ROYAL 31 

the finest spirit of sacrifice and taken part in 
13 combats in the air, of which two ended in 
the burning and downfall of enemy aero- 
planes." 

(Note. — Guynemer actually took part 
in 14, not 13 air-battles.) 

Moreover, he was recompensed with a 
third citation: 

"He has not ceased giving the finest in- 
stances of boldness, courage and seK-pos- 
session in carrying out the most perilous 
missions successfully. He has just suc- 
ceeded for the second time, on December 
8th, in beating down an enemy aeroplane, 
its two passengers being killed." 

The victory of December 5th was quite 
similar. Thus we have reached the fourth 
in the table of glory established by him, as 
follows : 



32 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

First Boche, July 19, 1915. 
Second Boche, December 5, 1915. 
Third Boche, December 8, 1915. 
Fourth Boche, December 14, 1915. 

As to "Pahns," they are shown by the 
Military Medal, the Legion of Honor with 
four palms, the fruits of seven months' work. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE BEGINNINGS 

I SAW the hero a few weeks later. He had 
read the articles devoted to him, which I had 
written for various papers and magazines 
and thanked me not for having talked ahout 
him, but for not having made him play a 
"ridiculous" part. 

"It is so easy," said he, "to make those 
persons whom we are discussing odious, even 
with the best intentions in the world. I was 
afraid that you would praise me in such a 
way that the reader would be disgusted. 
What you have written in the Journal and 
J'ai Vu has pleased me because of its ex- 
actness. But how the devil you understood 
me so fully just from my talk about my first 
fights is remarkable." 

33 



34 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

I explained how I had taken notes, add- 
ing: "You see, it is better to answer the 
questions which I put to you. In this way 
at least I shall make no mistakes, and I am 
sure that nothing will be omitted." 

"You're a devil of a fellow!" And every 
time he met me afterwards he used the same 
expression, with his charming smile: 

"Here is that devilish man to whom you 
must always tell everything." 

That day I took advantage of the open- 
ing to ask him some details about his be- 
ginnings with the squadron. With his usual 
good grace he told me: 

"You wrote, by some miracle, that I had 
taken up aviation after having been rejected 
five times. But here I must correct you. 
You said that I had been cured, but that 
is only being postponed. Let it go at that! 
I began by becoming a student-mechanic in 
the school at Pau. I worked and learned 
all that I could with but one purpose : to be- 



THE BEGINNINGS S5 

come an aviation-pupil. It took a long time, 
was very trying and discouraging! At last 
I gained my entrance, January 26, 1915. 

"On the very next day I began training. 
But that is really only a way of speaking, 
for the training in the first few days is noth- 
ing more than shoveling snow. I put all my 
heart into it while waiting for better things, 
for I knew that the rest was fated to come 
in normal fashion. I had only to be patient. 

"On February 1st my apprenticeship as a 
pilot took on aerial character. I drove a 
taxi, and then the following week I mounted 
an aeroplane, going in straight lines, turn- 
ing and gliding, and on March 10th I made 
two flights lasting twenty minutes in day- 
light. At last I had my wings. I passed 
the examination next day. Then I flew on 
a Bleriot, but they authorized me to try a 
Morane, and I was sent to the school of 
Avord. On April 26th I received my mili- 
tary commission. I ought to state that dur- 



36 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ing my training I came near being scratched 
from the list, a certain head-pilot claiming 
that I was foolishly imprudent because I 
made too difficult flights, according to his 
way of thinking, and because I flew when 
the weather was unfavorable. He did not 
understand, poor man, that it was not my 
desire to *play to the gallery,' but that I 
was working along what seemed to me rea- 
sonable lines : was not this apprenticeship to 
make real pilots of us? When the test was 
passed these pilots were to go to the front. 
And if they did not know all the secrets of 
flight, all the mysteries of aviation, they 
would be poor aviators and could not render 
the service required of them. It seemed to 
me that the sanest logic required that those 
who formed the squadron should be abso- 
lutely fit, and that for them flying should 
have become so automatic that they could 
fly in any weather and under any conditions 
whatever. But this was not the opinion of 




















Photograph made by Gnvnemer himself ivhile he ivas on a 

reconnaisance over the German lines, showing bombs 

bursting around his plane. 



THE BEGINNINGS 37 

our head-pilot. It is true that he had en- 
joyed no opportunity to engage in actual 
warfare." 

It was a biting phrase and required a 
commentary. Guynemer was a sincere 
friend and a devoted comrade, but he had 
striking ideas and always most spirited in 
connection with those whom he thought lying 
in ambush or tricksters. These were objects 
of hatred to him! He hated no others. I 
shall take occasion to discuss his opinions on 
this subject. This great Frenchman could 
not consider those who did not perform their 
duty loyally and never omitted an opportun- 
ity of advising me to write an article about 
them. But to return to our conversation. 
Guynemer is now ready to take his place 
in the squadron. 

"On May 22, 1915, 1 was ordered to leave 
for the General Reserve, where I received 
an appointment. On June 8th I reached 
M. S. 3, established at Vauciennes. It was 



38 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

commanded by our master in all things, one 
of the creators of 'hunting/ Captain Bro- 
card. I found Vedrines there, and he re- 
ceived me in friendly fashion. Famous for 
his special missions which added a new page 
to the glorious sum of his successes, he gave 
me all the information possible. To him I 
was a boy, who amused him. He took pleas- 
ure in giving me all the advice that I wanted. 
And there was much of this! He took me 
to the lines, had me visit the sector, and ac- 
cepted me even as a partner in a special 
mission, my first. 

"I began my work with reconnoissances. 
Now this kind of work does not interest me 
any more, but when we are new, and want 
to do something, it is really thrilling to be 
way up there, studying the ground, asking 
oneself questions with the help of the map, 
and above all admiring the stoicism of our 
soldiers who live there in those holes, beneath 
those murderous mounds, having as their 



THE BEGINNINGS 39 

companions the cannon, cooking-pots and 
grenades. Poor fellows, how the aviator 
should love and venerate them and help them 
when he can! Captain Brocard is the one 
w^ho has instilled into us this love for the 
infantry. He never misses an opportunity 
of making us feel the difference between 
them and ourselves, and really we ought to 
insist upon this point in all the squadrons. 
Many of the coldnesses, many of the en- 
mities would disappear! Oh, yes, making 
these reconnoissances is a work which in the 
long run becomes fatiguing and monoto- 
nous, but what recollections are left by those 
first flights over the battlefield, what a splen- 
did spectacle, and how sad! 

"In order to make a reconnoissance a 
man must put his whole heart into it. The 
command wants facts, and it is indispen- 
sable to bring them to the commander as 
complete as possible. It is at the risk and 
under many perils of the pilot, and I admit 



40 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

that I have returned frequently after more 
or less serious attacks. On June 17th, not- 
ably, I came back with eight wounds, an- 
other time with nine, while a tenth bullet 
passed only a few inches from my face. The 
Boche cannon shoot straight, but we have 
to show them that they do not frighten us." 

What Guynemer did not tell me, but I 
learned from his comrades, was the story of 
one of these reconnoissances. 

The last comer to the squadron, with the 
air of a "young girl" as Vedrines used to 
say, he felt in the beginning that they did 
not take him seriously, notwithstanding all 
the work that he did. He thought that they 
had a kind of protective friendship for him, 
which was pleasant, but that they had no 
great confidence in him. Therefore, he de- 
cided to show them something very decisive, 
after which they could be no longer in doubt. 
One day while on a photographing mission, 
he was picked out especially by the aerial 



THE BEGINNINGS 41 

batteries of the enemy. According to the 
captain who accompanied him as a passen- 
ger, more than a thousand shells were fired 
at them. Without flinching from this ter- 
rific deluge Guynemer did not make a sin- 
gle turn to escape the attacks. He went 
straight towards his objective. The recon- 
noissance lasted an hour. When he had fin- 
ished his work the observer gave him the 
signal to return. But the pilot drove di- 
rectly towards the guns which were trying 
to beat him down, and holding his personal 
photographic apparatus out to his compan- 
ion asked him to take some pictures of the 
mortar attacking the aeroplane. 

From that day on not a person in the 
squadron doubted the future of this youth! 

"What I must tell you," said Guynemer, 
modest to excess, "is the courage of the ob- 
servers. When we stop to think that those 
ofiicers deliver up their lives to a pilot who 
may make one mistake, be the victim of a 



4S GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

moment of dizziness, or of a fainting fit, or 
even of a mortal wound, or anything else, 
and that they busy themselves only with the 
ground and their map, in order to bring 
back the best possible report, we can not 
admire them too much. I admit that I 
would not like their profession. I am not 
afraid, but I accept that danger against 
which I can fight, while the observer has to 
have blind confidence in his pilot and never 
stop to consider the steering of the aero- 
plane. Almost always he knows nothing 
whatever about the mysteries of aviating, 
and yet he is there with you to whom he has 
given his life in charge. It is an art in itself 
and you must take into consideration these 
unknown artisans of victory, the most useful 
collaborators of the commander. I assure 
you that an observer like Lieutenant Co- 
lomb, for instance, has deserved well of the 
country." 



CHAPTER VII 

FROM SUCCESS TO SUCCESS 

When Guynemer became a specialist in 
pursuit he naturally stopped all reconnois- 
sances and found himself assigned to a sin- 
gle-seated aeroplane. In January, 1916, he 
did not add a single victory to his list, but 
February was to give him new success. 

In April, when he came out of the hos- 
pital, I had a chance to pass a few minutes 
with him and Second-Lieutenant Raty, one 
of his intimate friends, a remarkable 
"hunter," made a prisoner, but in whom all 
saw a future Ace. 

Of course both of us asked the Ace, Raty, 
to get information about hunting and the 
way to fight, I to add to my documents about 
him whom we all considered a phenomenon, 

43 



44 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

for it must not be forgotten that at that time 
aerial encounters were not yet so common. 
Indeed, on February 3, 1916, in the course 
of a single flight, Guynemer succeeded in 
getting his first official "double." 

"I was making my usual round in the 
Roy sector," said he, *'just before luncheon. 
I was about ending the flight, when looking 
around to see if I might leave safely, I saw 
an aeroplane in the distance. Ah ! the game 
was coming to me. Good, all I had to do 
was not to let it escape. It was an L. V. G. 
I gave chase and soon caught up with it. He 
did not seem to wish to avoid the fight, as so 
often happens. Possibly he had not seen 
me after all. Being faster than he I got in 
back of him, opening fire at 100 meters, and 
firing at intervals soon exhausted the 47 
cartridges of my Lewis. At that instant a 
cloud of smoke, which increased rapidly, 
made a sinister tail to the Boche, which 
dived, severely wounded. Alas! he fell 



FROM SUCCESS TO SUCCESS 45 

within his own lines and I could not follow 
him to earth. I certainly considered that I 
had one enemy less, but my total was not 
improved, and I admit that I regretted it, 
for I needed my fifth. 

"Providence was on the watch I I was 
coming back, thinking over the methods of 
fighting, considering how I had attacked, 
asking myself whether I would not have 
done better to approach from some other di- 
rection, when at almost 11:30 I found an- 
other hunting L. V. G., disguised, armed 
with a Parabellum. Yes, I had made a 
mistake just now, when I opened fire from 
so far away — I should have waited. At 100 
meters we can not be sure of the aim. My 
method, which up to this time always con- 
sisted in attacking almost point-blank, 
seemed to me much better. It is more risky, 
but everything lies in manoeuvering so as to 
remain in the dead angle of fire. Certainly 



46 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

it is rather difficult, but nevertheless it can 
be mastered with skill. 

"While going over these things to myself 
I had come near enough to the Boche with- 
out running any great danger. At 20 
meters I fired. Almost at once my adver- 
sary tumbled in a tail-spin. I dived after 
him, continuing to fire my weapon. I plainly 
saw him fall in his lines, where he was 
crushed. That was all right, no doubt about 
him. I had my fifth! I was really in luck, 
for less than ten minutes later another 
L. V. G., sharing the same lot, spun down- 
ward with the same grace, taking fire as he 
fell through the clouds. 

"The second day afterwards, before 
Frise, in a new tete-a-tete with an L. V. G., 
I leaped forward, caught up with him, got in 
back of him, a little below to avoid his fire, 
and at 15 meters fired 45 cartridges. He 
swayed sadly, in the shock of death, which I 
was beginning to be able to diagnose, then 



FROM SUCCESS TO SUCCESS 47 

fell like a stone, taking fire on the way. He 
must have been burned up between Asse- 
villers and Herbecourt. 

"Although he was really my seventh 
Boche, he alone gained me the honor of a 
special communication." 

A fifth citation recompensed the Ace: 

"A hunting pilot with audacity and 
energy for any emprise. On February 3rd 
he has caused the fall of three enemy aero- 
planes in succession, in their lines. On Feb- 
ruary 5th he attacked an L. V. G. aeroplane 
and beat it down in flames over the German 
lines." 

Raty was not satisfied with mere side- 
anecdotes — he wanted the facts as to the 
method of fighting. Guynemer acceded 
with enthusiasm: 

"The most difficult thing is to compel the 
Boche to accept the duel. He does not lack 
courage, but he prefers not to run the risk 



48 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

of being brought down. Every time that 
you come up with him and that he can not 
do otherwise, he conducts himself with great 
valor. Up to this time I have never met a 
cowardly opponent who inspires you with 
repulsion. Some defend themselves more 
or less expertly, others attack without 
method, some are especially adroit. It has 
seldom happened to me to return without 
some wounds. On several occasions my 
garments were drilled with holes. I took 
the chance that they would hit some mortal 
spot. On March 6th, for instance, I was in 
a two-seater and the union-suits of my ob- 
server and myself were almost like sieves. 

"Once the Boche has been compelled to 
accept the meeting, it is well to be on your 
guard, for his arms are most redoubtable. 
The first tactics require that you should not 
face the sun, lest you be dazzled. Then do 
not place yourself in front of the enemy, as 
you would offer too easy a target. The 




Guynemer shot down from a height of o'ver 9,000 feet by a 
rench cannon — but he only suffered a bruised knee' 




One of Guynemer' s victims, first shot to pieces, then burned 
almost to a cinder. 



FROM SUCCESS TO SUCCESS 49 

best position is at the rear, a little below, so 
as to render him helpless without an op- 
portunity of returning your fire. When 
you have succeeded in getting in this posi- 
tion do not lose hold on him. You must not 
lose sight of one of the movements of the 
adversary, following him, as if moved by 
the same power ; in a word, cling to him like 
a leech. And as soon as you have the Boche 
in the line of fire, shoot in jerks, so as not to 
waste shots and to fire only with good aim. 
It must not be forgotten that the belt of our 
Lewis guns have only 47 cartridges, while 
those of their Parabellum have 250. That 
is quite a difference. 

"I set upon my rival, but this is a method 
which has its drawbacks. We never know 
when he will regain his hold and *dress' you 
in turn. Surprise is the best way to conquer 
and the sudden attack is one that has always 
served me well. When I prolong the attack, 
it is because I had no luck, but it is stronger 



60 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

than I ; when I have a Boche in front of me, 
I can not make up my mind to let him go. 
I know them too well: they will say when 
they go back that they have beaten me 
down." 



CHAPTER VIII 

A GAME WITH THE BOCHE 

"One victory which amused me greatly 
was that which I carried off on March 12th. 
I was a hundred leagues away from where 
they awaited me. 
"*^ "I was then ordered to go and reenforce 
the aviation of the Verdun army, which had 
great work to do against the fifth Boche 
arm, really redoubtable in this sector. Here 
we encountered all kinds of new models of 
hunting aeroplanes. We were therefore cer- 
tain to have plenty to do. Before Navarre's 
arrival the supremacy of the air plainly be- 
longed to the enemy, all during the month 
preceding the offensive of February 21st. 
Navarre accomplished many deeds of prow- 
ess, and equalized the chances of the bellig- 

51 



62 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

erents. Now we had to gain the advantage 
over them. Thus several squadrons, includ- 
ing No, 3, had been appointed. 

"We left on the 12th. I had my rapid- 
fire gun ready for anything that might oc- 
cur, but I did not think that during the trip 
I would have any opportunity to use it. 
There I made a mistake: near Thiescourt I 
caught sight of a two-seated L. V. G. I 
overtook it near Ribecourt. A few shots, 
fire! It was all over: one less Boche, one 
more for me. I thought that this success 
out of the beaten track, I might say, was to 
bring me some stunning work when I was 
on the track. 

"So on the next day, it was the 13th — ^but 
an aviator can not stop on account of super- 
stitions — I left with the firm determination 
to bring down at least two, for there were 
so many in the sky around Verdun. I be- 
gan by putting to flight what I think was a 
group of reconnoitering aeroplanes — a pity 



A GAME WITH THE BOCHE 53 

I could not catch up with them. On the way 
back I saw two Boches. There were the 
two that I was to bring down. I rushed at 
them, speeding all I could, getting below 
one, to the rear, a little to one side, firing 
seven shots at point-blank distance. He 
turned about and went away with lead in 
his wings, but I could not take up time with 
one of his kind. 

"As to the other — he was certainly an 
Ace. He was not afraid and fired as hard 
as he could. My aeroplane knows some- 
thing about that. I wanted to get myself 
under the body of his machine to bring him 
down safely. Unfortunately I had speeded 
up too much, going faster than he, and I 
passed beyond him. Quickly the Boche 
took advantage of the situation and sent a 
hot fire at me. He could shoot at me as he 
pleased. My cape shot to bits, flew in rib- 
bons. A deflected bullet struck me in the 
face, slashed my cheek and nose and two 



54. GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

bullets went through my left arm. I still 
have a splinter in my jaw, and the surgeons 
say it is better to leave it there. It is a sou- 
venir, so long as it is a fetich and allows me 
to avenge myself. In fine, I was sprinkled 
all over. 

"I bled freely and actually suffered. I 
had to look out that I did not 'drop like an 
apple.' I studied the situation hastily. 1 
let myself fall, plunging downward 300 
meters to make him think that I had been 
knocked down. And as now another aero- 
plane came up to help my rival in the at- 
tempt to finish me, I turned about, and 
steering with one hand, I succeeded in re- 
gaining our lines, landing at Brocourt. 

"I shall never be able to express my re- 
grets at having to leave my conu^ades. I 
considered it a feast to be able to take part 
in the great battle. One mistake on my part, 
the cutting of a vein by my adversary was 
enough to keep me from the front. 



A GAME WITH THE BOCHE 55 

"But soon I was almost well, and I tell 
you that I determined to *put in some good 
licks' to compensate for lost time. They 
would have to pay me for my sojourn at the 
hospital." 

And then came two new citations, the 
sixth and seventh: 

"On March 6th he has engaged in a com- 
bat with a German aeroplane, in the course 
of which his aeroplane, his garments and 
those of his observer were pierced by bullets. 
On March 12, 1916, he attacked a two- 
seated German aeroplane and beat it down 
in flames in the French lines: 21 aerial bat- 
tles in eight months; 8 German aeroplanes 
beaten down, 7 of these within or near the 
French lines." 

"Second-Lieutenant Guynemer: ordered 
to rejoin the Verdun army, beat down an 
enemy aeroplane on the way. Hardly ar- 
rived he took part in five aerial battles. In 



56 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

the course of the last, being caught between 
two enemy aeroplanes, he had his left arm 
pierced by two bullets. Hardly was he im- 
proved when he took up again his work at 
the front." 

We must recollect that the first Boche 
dates from July 19, 1915. In less than eight 
months the Ace of Aces had seen seven 
palms find a place on his War Cross! 

He was to progress much more rapidly at 
his work! 

As he left us Guynemer expressed his high 
appreciation of the Baby Nieuport, which 
had, nevertheless, been the cause of his be- 
ing wounded on account of its great speed. 
Enthusiastic about its manageabihty, he 
claimed that this apparatus could play its 
part well against the best of the enemy fight- 
ing aeroplanes. 



CHAPTER IX 

CONVALESCENCE IN THE OPEN 

Just like N^ungesser who, healed twice, 
never wanted to leave the army, and always 
refused furloughs for convalescence, using 
the time profitably to increase the hecatomb 
of Boches, as if up there they could not dare 
suspect a wounded man — ^just like Dorme, 
and Triboulet, and Matton, Guynemer 
would not rest once he had left the hospital. 
It is by signs hke these that we find the 
souls of great heroes who know nothing 
about vacations, even for their health, so 
long as others are fighting. 

And there is no ostentation in actions like 
these. Matton and Triboulet found death 
during these furloughs which they refused. 
If they had listened to the surgeons they 
might still be among us. 

57 



58 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Guynemer himself did not even tell Raty 
and me of his decision when he saw us. 
Was it not beautiful, that youthful action 
prompted by the purest filial piety? This 
great hero of the air had done something to 
please every one and his father, may I not 
say, just for once. He was not strong and 
should have rested. His parents wanted 
him to do so. A too hasty return to the 
squadron would have been disastrous to his 
health. Boche hunter, he wished to con- 
tinue his work of convalescence in the air. 
What was he to do in this conflict between 
feelings equally noble and to be respected? 

Guynemer always found quick and fitting 
solutions of difficulties: yes, he would obey 
his family by going near them at Compiegne, 
but at the same time he would serve France. 
Not far from his paternal home, at Vau- 
ciennes, his Baby Nieuport rested in a han- 
gar, and it was once more to carry him into 
those great open spaces searching for the 



CONVALESCENCE IN THE OPEN 69 

enemy whenever the atmosphere permitted. 

One of the hero's sisters was entrusted 
with the task of studying the atmosphere at 
dawn every day to see if it were "Boche 
weather." And as soon as it was light 
enough, slyly, like a boy going out to muse 
in the fields notwithstanding the orders of 
his elders, the Second-Lieutenant Ace came 
down from his room and mounted his chariot 
for a glorious assault. 

He was convinced that no one in the house 
suspected his escapades except his sister. 
How poorly he understood the heart of a 
father and mother! And M. Guynemer has 
told me of the anxieties, the worries Kved 
through during that convalescence. The 
boy had gone. Would he come back? 
Would some hateful enemy appear on the 
way and prevent his return to the bosom 
of his family? The minutes of anxiety 
were as long as centuries. Magnificent 
instants, but how moving! And the lov- 



60 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ing mother did not dare show her son 
that she was not deceived by his strata- 
gems : she did not wish him to see her when 
she watched him fly away. But she wished 
to send after him one look of love, as a bene- 
diction that should guard him against per- 
fidious attacks. Through the blinds she 
watched him depart in the service of his 
Country, and when she saw her boy draw 
far away, she turned back, so often with 
tears in her eyes. 

Here is one of the most moving pages in 
the hero's life. This feigned ignorance on 
the part of the parents, the plotting of 
brother and sister. Only persons with 
hearts can appreciate the situation and mar- 
vel. 

Guynemer, face to face with his family, 
pretended that he would run no danger. He 
insisted on his own prudence. Nothing se- 
rious could happen to him, because he 
avoided all risks. Yes, their son spoke just 




"The Winged Sivord of France." 



CONVALESCENCE IN THE OPEN 61 

this way. But as soon as he began to turn 
the conversation upon the subject which was 
all his life, the comforting words which he 
had spoken were at once contradicted by 
the many adventures and varied anecdotes 
which he recalled. No peril had been too 
great for him. He played with danger, and 
looked for it. Thus it happened at his first 
fight, after having been wounded, he ex- 
posed himself to the fire of the enemy with- 
out stopping an instant to fire back. He 
was content to manoeuver and wait. A sec- 
ond baptism of fire, voluntary, terrible, ad- 
mirable, which had but one purpose : to find 
again the mastery for the great fighter of 
the skies! 



CHAPTER X 

GUYNEMER PLAYS A NEW GAME 

It was only after several months that I 
saw our hero again. He had just beaten 
down his eighteenth official adversary and 
had been brought down by the cannon. I 
had to recall his victories to refresh his mem- 
ory. His recollections were all confused, he 
confounded one success with another. Hap- 
pily, I had the full list on a piece of paper. 
This made it possible for me to secure the 
desired information, and was well worth the 
compliments with which the Ace repaid me 
for what he called my patience. 

"It was June 28th before I began to add 
up again. I was cruising around with Chai- 
naty when we met a French reconnoitering 
and photographing division. We thought 

62 



GUYNEMER PLAYS A NEW GAME 63 

that in order to get any game we would have 
to fly above our comrades. The photograph- 
ing aeroplane is always prey sought for 
by the enemy. We climbed up above 4,500 
meters and waited. Our hopes were soon 
realized. Two L. V. G.'s approached and 
darted forward. They had not seen us. 
We dived; at 4,200 meters we were upon 
them. We selected one, and speedily had 
it tumbling in flames on our territory near 
Rosieres en Santerre. I had taken part in 
three fights that day. On the next day I 
was less fortunate and came back with sev- 
eral bullets in my aeroplane and two longi- 
tudinal spars of one wing broken. 

*'To discuss all of my combats is impos- 
sible; they were too many. Almost every 
day now I had one. However, I recollect 
that I was brought down most beautifully 
on July 6th and this incident is not on your 
list, so you see it is not absolutely complete. 
Does that bother you? 



64. GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"On this occasion I certainly had to deal 
with a Boche Ace. He succeeded in dam- 
aging my propeller and cutting two of my 
cables. Much against my will I had to with- 
draw. 

"Most of the aerial combats to-day take 
place between groups of five, six, seven, ten 
aeroplanes. The enemy has adopted hunt- 
ing tactics which are dangerous. We can no 
longer laugh at him and say that if we rush 
to attack he is ready to run away. If we 
miss one, and he pretends to run away, the 
others are there to cut off your retreat. 
You must consider, manoeuver and leave 
nothing to chance. 

"My tenth Boche dates July 16th. Oh! 
he was as easy as anything. It was an 
L. V. G. Heurtaux and I had attacked him 
from the rear and had sent him down in 
flames, crashing to earth near Barleux. He 
landed on the cabane! This demi-looping 
seems not to have been tried by the amateurs 



GUYNEMER PLAYS A NEW GAME 65 

of Kultur. On the 28th I began by attack- 
ing a group of four, one of which was 
brought down, certainly because I fired at 
him at close quarters. A few minutes later 
I met another squadron of four. The result 
was far less satisfactory. As soon as they 
saw me the Boches fled to right and left. 
Only one could be pursued, and I did not 
miss him, sending the 250 bullets of my 
Wickers through him. But at the last shot 
a blade of my propeller flew into the air. 
My motor began to revolve all ways ; I was 
shaken as if in a basket. I could not pay 
any more attention to my adversary. I had 
to content myself with getting back as well 
as I could: volplaning, I would land at the 
first aerodrome I found. 

"My 'probably downed' foe was in a simi- 
lar condition, for he had fallen in sight of 
the English trenches and the observers on 
the ground saw to his end. 



66 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"At last I reached my dozen on August 
3rd. As on July 16th, I brought down my 
adversary near Barleux; I had attacked him 
while accompanied by Heurtaux." 

"But how about your attack on the 
trenches with your rapid-fire gun on August 
7th?" 

"Ah, yes, that was a new game. Very 
amusing! Lieutenant Heurtaux and I had 
decided to try it so as to prove to the Poilus 
that we did not forget them and that we 
wished to take part in the dangers which 
they faced. When they attacked we asked 
permission to collaborate with them. Hav- 
ing spied out some nests of machine guns 
which were trying to mow down attacking 
ranks of assailants, we came down, almost 
to the ground, and began firing at these ob- 
jectives, as well as upon groups of men, 
batteries and trenches. The poor troopers 
who were in the furnace thought no more of 



GUYNEMER PLAYS A NEW GAME 67 

their own danger, but shouted to us in their 
enthusiasm. I admit that this testimony of 
satisfaction awarded under such circum- 
stances made us quiver with joy." 



CHAPTER XI 

CITATIONS OF VICTORY 

'^My succeeding victories were rapid, most 
happily, for I had to compensate for sev- 
eral mishaps. On August 17th I downed an 
Aviatik with three shots. That was my 
thirteenth. On the 18th I did even better: 
I attacked my Boche to the west of the 
woods of Madame, between Bouchavesnes 
and Clery, and at the second shot he fell to 
pieces. This is the best I had done : brought 
down two aeroplanes with five cartridges. 
Here is the solution of the high cost of liv- 
ing. We must economize ! We must econo- 
mize ! 

"On August 20th I came up with a Boche, 
but was not able to get him. However, I 
have the conviction that he will never get me. 

68 



CITATIONS OF VICTORY 69 

On the next day I attacked two aeroplanes 
at point-blank distance. I killed one passen- 
ger, but I could not see the end because I 
had to turn upon the other machine. I had 
made a mistake, for it fled at once. On the 
same day I killed another passenger. All 
the observers of this sector will certainly 
want to pass as pilots. At last came a fight 
which was not so favorable for me, and the 
L. V. G. which I attacked came back at me 
with full force, sending a bullet through my 
tank, among other things. One ball touched 
the end of my finger, dying there, after hav- 
ing passed through everything else in its 
way. It was a great borer. I admit that 
it worked effectively. I asked no more, but 
hastened to land in our second trenches. 

"I took my revenge on September 4th: 
my adversary (the fifteenth) turned a com- 
plete somersault, falling near our lines. On 
the 9th I did for two which were not counted 
for me. 



70 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"As to my latest, it was on September 
15th that I brought him down. He was the 
finest and fattest of a group of six. 

"I increased my altitude: finding that my 
cruising around 3,000 meters was fantastic. 
In the spring of this year I passed to 4,000, 
and now I operated at 5,000 or higher. In 
my day's work of the 15th I had given battle 
six times at point-blank distance. The one 
which ended successfully gave me an op- 
portunity of seeing my adversary go all to 
bits in space. His wings buckled up, and 
then broke away on each side, and the rest, 
body and equipment, ran a race to the earth 
with tiiem. That was my second battle that 
day. At the fifth I killed the passenger, 
and would not have given much for the pilot, 
but the aeroplane seemed to be under con- 
trol when it reached the ground." 

Before having him tell me all about that 
glorious day, September 23rd, which came 
near ending most tragically for him, let us 




Brought doivn by a Boche, hut ivithin the French lines. 
The machine alone ^vas injured. 



CITATIONS OF VICTORY 71 

note the citations which Guynemer earned 
by these various victories : 

8th. On June 22nd he took part in three 
aerial combats : in the course of one of these 
he beat down a German aeroplane, after his 
apparatus had been struck by enemy pro- 
jectiles. 

9th. On July 16th, 1916, he brought 
down his tenth enemy aeroplane, which fell 
in flames in the enemy lines. 

10th. On July 28th, 1916, he brought 
down his eleventh enemy aeroplane. 

11th. On August 3rd, 1916, he brought 
down his twelfth enemy aeroplane. 

12th. On the 17th and 18th of August, 
1916, he brought down two enemy aero- 
planes in front of the French trenches. 

IStti. On the 4th and 16th of Septem- 
ber, 1916, he brought down his fifteenth and 
sixteenth enemy aeroplanes. 



CHAPTER XII 

STRUCK BY A SHELL AT 3,000 METERS 

Here is what is reported of his exploits 
of September 23rd, described to me by the 
Ace of Aces on the second day thereafter: 

"14th. On September 23rd, 1916, seeing 
a group of three enemy aeroplanes subjected 
to the fire of our special artillery, he gave 
them battle resolutely, beating down two of 
them and putting the other to flight. At 
this moment he received the full force of a 
shell upon his own aeroplane, and only by 
prodigies of skill was he able to regain our 
lines, where he fell over, only slightly 
wounded." 

It is impossible to give the least idea of 
the good humor and animation with which 
Guynemer gave me all the details of this 

72 



STRUCK BY A SHELL 73 

series of varied feelings. I am trying to 
report his narrative as faithfully as possible, 
so as to let it retain his characteristic style 
as nearly as may be. The hero, who two 
days before had almost met his death under 
horrible conditions, laughed at the details of 
the trying adventure, and found amusing 
expressions to give an idea of the situation 
in which he found himself. No one would 
have thought for a moment that the shadow 
of death had lowered so deeply over his 
head. 

"For the sixth time I was brought down, 
and that was fame indeed! And I was 
thinking what our poor artillerists would 
have done if they were told that they had 
just killed me! I had to ask myself again 
how it was that fate, for which we all wait, 
but for which I do not look, had not been 
reserved for me. It is a mystery to me. 

"The day had begun well. It could not 
really end tragically. At the very moment 



74 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

when I least expected it Providence inter- 
vened, and I assure you that if I were not a 
believer, this celestial protection would have 
proved it to me, when the irreparable seemed 
about to happen, that there is really a Su- 
perior Power which directs our acts and 
makes us the poor puppets which it compels 
to do its will. 

"On the day before I had the opportunity 
of bringing to the ground a Fokker, which 
I do not count at all, for it was too far over 
the enemy lines. On the next day, Sep- 
tember 23rd, I started to make my rounds 
about luncheon time. I like this time espe- 
cially because the Boche thinks that we are 
eating, enjoying our coffee, or digesting 
our meal and profits by these two or three 
hours to try incursions over our lines. 

"I did not have to wait long for my luck. 
I soon saw one of my companions caught 
among some five Boches, acting along their 
well known tactics, three in line above, two 



STRUCK BY A SHELL 75 

below. I left the Frenchman to deal with 
the latter, and went straight at the trio. 
At 11 :20 I sent one down in flames towards 
Aches. He fell so suddenly, so brutally that 
those below him looked at one another, 
thinking that it must be one of them. My 
comrade also even thought that he had 
triumphed. As for me, I continued my 
work. Thirty seconds after my first suc- 
cess I succeeded in putting out of commis- 
sion, absolutely helpless, a second Fokker: 
the passenger had been killed, as I plainly 
saw, and as for the pilot, he was not much 
better, but I could not see him. He fell 
near Carrepuy. 

"There was now only one in front of me, 
and he fearfully accepted the challenge. 
Poor type indeed! At 11 :23, after only two 
shots, he went to join his comrades, blown 
up, pulverized, also set afire. He fell not 
far from our lines about 300 meters, near 
Roye." 



76 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

A soft-boiled egg for Guynemer! Just 
put an egg in boiling water when the Ace of 
Aces begins a battle, you wait until he has 
downed three Boches, you take out the egg, 
it is done to a turn. What a triumph for 
the restaurant menus! 

If you want me to I will guarantee that 
these three minutes are exact by the clock. 
So much for the soft-boiled egg which can 
be scooped up in a spoon. 

"I had hardly finished my third, contem- 
plating the immensity of the azure heavens 
from my 3,000 feet, which I had cleared so 
completely, and looking to see if there were 
no other amateurs, when suddenly, thirty 
seconds later, a shell struck one of my wings 
with all its force. The left wing was torn 
to shreds. My aeroplane seemed mortally 
wounded. The canvas floated in the wind 
and was torn to shreds as we fell. My ap- 
paratus fell, broke apart, crumpled up in 
the abyss, unable to bear me any longer. I 



STRUCK BY A SHELL 77 

really felt the call of death and I seemed 
to be hastening towards it. It seemed that 
there was nothing to prevent my crashing 
to the earth. My Boches were well avenged. 
A tail-spin, terrible, fearful, began at 3,000 
meters and continued to 1,600 meters. 

"I felt as if I were indeed lost, and all that 
I asked of Providence was that I should not 
fall in enemy territory. Never that! They 
would have been too happy. Can you think 
of me buried with my victims? But I was 
powerless to exert my will, my aeroplane 
refused to obey. 

"At 1,600 meters I tried anyway. The 
wind had driven me almost over our lines. 
I was already half happy. Now I dreamed 
of being interred with sympathetic com- 
rades following my body. That was not a 
fine dream, but at least it was better than the 
other. 

"I had no longer to fear the pointed hel- 
mets. But nevertheless I felt all that death 



78 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

might be, and it was not a pleasant thought. 
The fall continued. The steering gear would 
not respond to my tugging. Nothing 
worked. I tried it to the right, to the left, 
pulling, pushing, but got no result. The 
comet did not slow a bit, I was drawn in- 
vincibly towards the earth where I was 
about to be crushed. 

"There it was ! One last brutal effort, but 
in vain. I closed my eyes, I saw the earth, I 
was plunging towards it at 180 kilometers 
an hour, like a plummet. A terrible crash- 
ing, a great noise, I looked around: there 
was nothing left of my Spad. 

"How did it happen that I was still alive? 
I asked myself, but I felt that it was so, 
and that was enough. However, I think 
that it was the straps which held me in my 
seat which had saved me. Without them 
I would have been thrown forward or would 
have broken some bones. On the contrary, 
they were dug deep into my shoulders, a si- 






'rK* 






x^. 






/^e^ftiP'.'tT^ '?»- 






Ze' 









Guynemer's application to the Minister of War for a Pilot's 

License, endorsed most ivarmly by the head of 

his Aviation School. 



STRUCK BY A SHELL 79 

lent proof doubtless that I should give them 
full consideration. Yes, truly, had it not 
been for them, on thinking it over, I would 
certainly be dead now. 

"It is infinitely funny when you recall 
those instants of anguish, lived through like 
a nightmare. All day yesterday I was 
utterly stupefied. A curious ipipression ! 
But see, to-day I am feeling fine, almost 
ready to begin again! 

"Ah ! the artillerists who had hit me, what 
faces they made when I landed a few meters 
from their battery. They were terribly dis- 
tressed and I had to restore their morale. 
They were sure they had killed me. Never- 
theless this is a proof that our anti-aerial 
gims are effective. To hit a Spad at 3,000 
meters is precision unknown heretofore. 

"After the artillerists came the infantry- 
men to pick up the pieces. Seeing that they 
did not have to carry me in a litter, they 
wanted to take me up from the ground and 



80 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

carry me in triumph, not stopping to think 
about my knee which was giving me consid- 
erable pain. And the brave poilus ended by 
marching ahead of me, singing the "Mar- 
seillaise" at the top of their voices. It was a 
moving sight, and I hardly regretted having 
been brought down from the sky so roughly. 

"Notwithstanding my wound, I went to 
view the remains of my Boche whom I had 
brought down first. The pilot whom I had 
killed had on his body a card, almost burned 
up, on which a feminine hand had written 
these words: 'I hope that you will bring 
back many victories.' Poor fellow, after all, 
even if he was a Boche I 

"I did not want any furlough, but my 
chief insisted that I rest a few days. He 
could not understand that I felt perfectly 
well after that hard knock, and I leave it to 
you to judge. Admit that 48 hours after 
that bump I am not at all ill." 



CHAPTER XIII 

A LONG CHASE 

GuYNEMER left US. He had come in search 
of one of his friends, Adjutant Lemaitre, to 
take him home to dinner, after which they 
were to spend a few days with his family. 

In the first week in October he took his 
place again at the front. Four days after- 
wards, on the 9th, he brought down an aero- 
plane over Villers Carbonnel, but could not 
have it made official. On the next day, a 
similar success, similar result. On the 20th 
he killed the passengers in two aeroplanes 
but could not bring the machines to earth. 
And on November 3rd another Boche, un- 
official. It was bad luck for Guynemer, but 
no less for our aviation record, for the prob- 
able victories of our Ace are always cer- 

81 



82 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

tain. Very many more of our enemies were 
certainly brought down than he could reckon. 
It mattered little to him. He claimed the 
right to add to his list, not those whom he 
was certain he had destroyed, but only those 
where others had witnessed his exploit. He 
was a good sport and never argued. What 
did he care about one Boche more or less; 
he knew that when he wanted to he could add 
to his list at will, and Guynemer's will was 
written with a capital W. 

An instance may prove this. After his 
prowess of September 23rd some jealous 
inefficient fellows tried to spread the rumor 
about him whom they envied, but whose 
glory they wished to dim. According to 
them it was enough for Guynemer to say 
that he had achieved a victory for it to. be 
made official, without any discussion. But 
we have just seen, on the one hand, how 
indifferent the Ace was about successes 
which he had the right to claim, and on the 



A LONG CHASE 83 

other hand the strictness of the authorities 
about allowing credit to him. Guynemer 
certainly was a phenomenon, but he enjoyed 
no special favors. His chiefs had the tact 
not to increase his list, in Richthofen style, 
for his well-known uprightness and prover- 
bial intrepidity placed him above any such 
procedures. 

"My victories," he used to say, "are in- 
disputable and I would not accept the credit 
for one of which I was in the least doubt. I 
wish every one would do the same." 

With all of his youthful fire and enthu- 
siasm Guynemer pursued with hatred those 
whom he thought unworthy of their rewards. 
He would have liked us to publish their 
names in all the papers. As to what was 
said about him he always used the same 
words: "It's all the same to me, they may 
say what they please, all I have to do is 
bring down the Boche, that is the essential 



84 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

thing, and those who do not believe it may 
come and see." 

On November 10th Guynemer began to 
add some more items to his record. On that 
very day he achieved a double stroke: 

"The day before I really had some hard 
luck. Three times up in the air, eight fights, 
not one victory. I knew very well that I 
had been attacked by a group operating with 
remarkable celerity, but that was no excuse 
for accomplishing nothing. So the next day 
I decided to rip up something. 

"I had gone a long way over the enemy 
lines when I saw four aeroplanes, two Al- 
batroses and two Aviatiks, the hunting 
planes to protect the others intent upon re- 
connoitering. They certainly intended tak- 
ing observations along our front. I was 
4,000 meters up. I hid myself in the clouds, 
turned after them, tracking them down like 
Sherlock Holmes on a trail! 

"For 70 kilometers I continued the pur- 



A LONG CHASE 85 

suit! It seemed a long time to me and I 
was disturbed. I was afraid of being recog- 
nized, not afraid of fighting with the four 
adversaries, for that was what I wanted, 
but I was afraid of being obliged to land 
and being captured alive in case of any ac- 
cident to my machine. I did not want to 
be a prisoner. Death is the risk of the pro- 
fession, but far rather that than captivity. 
I listened very attentively to the action of 
my motor, as a mother listens to the breath- 
ing of her child, when it is not very well. 

"I still remained in the wake of my rivals. 
When I saw that at last they were nearing 
our trenches, where they were about to com- 
mit indiscretions which I should prevent, I 
rushed at the group. I was 3,600 meters 
up. 

"The first which I attacked fell in flames 
at the fifteenth shot, near Nesles. I then 
continued the pursuit and a few instants 
later pounced upon an Albatros: at the third 



86 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

shot the observer was killed, and then it was 
the pilot's turn. Ten shots more and the 
machine turned over, crumpled up and 
crashed down in a field within our lines, 500 
meters from the road to Amiens, along the 
Morcourt ravine. 

"It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 
I had been flying five hours since morning. 
Now I could take a rest and I went to pay 
my respects to my victims. The aeroplane 
was a two-seated Albatros with a 220 horse- 
power Mercedes motor. This motor had 
dug into the ground two meters deep. The 
pilot was lying all crushed to bits under the 
machine-gun. In the center of his skull was 
a small red hole. Not a scratch on his hands. 
We raised him up, and his arms and legs 
cracked in sinister fashion, all disjointed. 
At a distance of 50 meters from him we 
found the Second-Lieutenant Observer: his 
contracted hand held a Browning. 

"I picked up the plate of the machine and 



A LONG CHASE 87 

took the pilot's helmet, pierced by a single 
bullet." 

This victory earned a fifteenth palm on 
Guynemer's War Cross : 

"Always as eager as courageous, on No- 
vember 10th, 1916, he brought down his 19th 
and 20th German aeroplanes." 

This was the third double-stroke made by 
the Ace of Aces. Notwithstanding the fact 
that the days were not favorable for aviation 
now, he managed to add three more victories 
to the list during the month of November. 
As was his habit, he went looking for the 
Boche in the air at the luncheon hour, upon 
the principle that at this time the enemy 
was less on his guard. 

On the 16th he beat down the twenty-first 
victim at 1:40 P. M.; on November 22nd 
another doublet: at 2:45 the twenty-second 
fell all aflame near Saint Christ, and fifteen 
minutes later the twenty-third fell on fire in 



88 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

the Faloy region. At 3 :10 a third was dam- 
aged, but it was not official. Guynemer was 
pursued by bad luck for his second "Triple" 
was not made official, any more than the one 
of September 23rd. 

Now, naturally the sixteenth citation, 
which, however, makes an error in the cham- 
pion's count, one of the two Boches of No- 
vember 22nd being made official only as a 
sequel : 

"Fighting ever with the same fine courage 
against enemy aeroplanes, he brought down 
on November 16th and 22nd his twenty-first 
and twenty-second German planes, both fall- 
ing on fire." 



CHAPTER XIV 

GUYNEMER CELEBRATES HIS BIRTHDAY WITH 

A BOCHE 

The series continues. I did not have the 
pleasure of seeing Guynemer for several 
weeks, having to be satisfied with the news 
which came to me from the squadron. More- 
over all this series of victims has, so to say, 
no history. Guynemer generally rose at a 
group, picked out the one which was most 
favorably situated for his purpose, fired a 
few shots, and had nothing more to do than 
to watch this Boche fall, while the others 
fled. On December 26th, to celebrate his 
twenty-second birthday, he brought down his 
twenty-fourth at 9 :45, making him fall 500 
meters east of Misery; the next day at 11 :45 
he dropped his twenty-fifth near La Maison- 
nette. 

89 



90 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

He went to Paris for a few days to try 
to carry out a plan which he had cherished 
for a long time. 

The report of his death was circulated at 
this time. According to well informed per- 
sons he had been the victim of a jealous 
husband of the Place Pigalle. They did not 
say when it happened. And there were some 
who believed these absurdities, born at regu- 
lar intervals in the brains of astonished idlers 
because they did not see the idol of all the 
French people mentioned in the official an- 
nouncements for a few days. So as to seem 
to know, they said any old thing, but they 
must have known the Ace very poorly to 
suggest such an end for him. 

Guynemer proved his resurrection by an 
admirable series running up to the end of 
January: in four days he gained five vic- 
tories, although the days were very short 
and extremely cold, and the atmospheric 
conditions were most unfavorable. 



€3- 








iLMm^^uX^^ l%^:Zi'J^'' 



i£»S- 



III! 



^4 



^ /«^<? /rom Guynemer's note-hook of flight, nvhich records 
his first mctory, July ,1 , 1915. 




La Sixieme Victoire. 



GUYNEMER CELEBRATES 91 

Before giving the account of these con- 
tests, here are the series of citations: 

"18th. This brilliant hunting pilot, on 
December 26th and 27th, brought down his 
twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth enemy aero- 
planes. (The text of the seventeenth cita- 
tion is lacking. ) 

"19th. This brilliant hunting pilot, on 
January 23rd and 24th, brought down his 
twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth enemy 
aeroplanes. 

"20th. This brilliant hunting pilot, on 
January 25th and 26th, brought down his 
twenty-ninth and thirtieth enemy aero- 
planes." 

When Guynemer came to see us he was 
telling the story of those three glorious days 
to Captain G., the eminent technician on 
shooting, whom the Ace held in high estima- 
tion, and to me: 

"I felt in fine trim to go after a Boche and 



9S GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

wanted to try and demonstrate that even in 
Winter, if we want to, we can add to the 
list. For there are quite a number of per- 
sons who state that Winter is not propitious 
for aviation and they take advantage of it 
by not flying. You know that phrase cir- 
culated in some places: 'Bad weather for 
aviation, but what fine weather for aviators V 
Well, that is not true at all. If we really 
want to do so, we can work just as well in 
Winter. It is not because the days are short 
that we do not perform the missions ordered. 
It is stupidity of conception. But to prove 
it we must not be satisfied with talking about 
it, we must bring down a Boche. This is 
what I tried and I am happy to have suc- 
ceeded, for now those who continue to as- 
sert the opposite had better admit plainly 
that they have collapsed. 

"And really my five victories were not so 
difficult to win as might have been supposed. 
Besides, I might add that it was only an 



GUYNEMER CELEBRATES 93 

embarrassment of choice, which shows that 
the moment the Boches find it to be a good 
time to fly, we ought to have the same opin- 
ion and act upon it. 

"On the 23rd I found no difficulty in 
beating down in 40 minutes an aeroplane 
near the railway station of Chaulnes, at 
10:50, and another in the Maurepas region 
at 11:30. Everything was very easy. 

"On the 24th I was at work in the morn- 
ing again. I started fighting with a group 
of five single-seaters which were 2,400 
meters high. I was much higher and came 
down as fast as I could to disturb their 
peace. I placed myself in a position in 
which they could not fire back at me, as 
nearly as I could, but I did not succeed per- 
fectly, for they cut one of my bracing wires. 
We went down, firing at one another until 
we were about 400 meters above Roye. At 
the very moment when I was in a fine posi- 
tion to get this victim, my motor stopped. 



94 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

By the time I had it going again the Boche 
was far away. A few instants later, a sim- 
ilar meeting, same stoppage, but I had had 
the time to fire and did not care if my motor 
did 'lay down' on me. I could not follow 
my adversary in his fall, I was so busy with 
my machine. He seemed to me to have lost 
control entirely, although I did not think 
that he was beaten down." 

"But the prisoners of my thirtieth, of 
January 26th, helped to make official this 
victory: they told us that the Boche, falling 
near Etelfay at Conencourt, had struck the 
ground with the observer killed and the pilot 
so severely wounded that they had to am- 
putate a leg. It was really luck, and I admit 
that I had no regrets at having left him 
alive, even though he was a Boche. 

"To come back to January 24th. After 
getting my motor to work normally, or 
nearly so, I suddenly saw some characteris- 
tic puffs not far from me. It was our can- 



GUYNEMER CELEBRATES 95 

non which were firing at a Rumpler with 
two machine guns. The fight did not last 
long: the Boche fell within our lines at Lig- 
nieres at 11:50. The pilot had a bullet in 
one lung, the passenger another in one knee. 
But the tanks were pierced and afire, caus- 
ing the loss of my adversaries. 

"The second day afterwards, my aero- 
plane having a wheel broken on account of 
the frost and having been damaged in other 
ways, I took flight on a comrade's Spad. In- 
action worried me and the wait for my 'taxi' 
seemed to be indefinitely prolonged. 

"And this flight was one of the most happy 
of all my career. In any case, it proves, my 
dear Captain," Guynemer added, address- 
ing Captain G., "that it is better to work 
with your head than with the most highly 
perfected machine gun. It is true that I 
prefer to use both ! But I had only the for- 
mer, and I had to be content with it, did I 
not?" 



CHAPTER XV 

A BATTLE WITHOUT A GUN 

"It was noon. An enemy aeroplane soar- 
ing at 3,800 meters. I climbed, and climbed 
until I was above him. He commenced to 
attack, and I fired back. Ten shots and 
my weapon failed. I could do nothing to 
get it to work again. What was I to do? 
Was I simply to leave? That would have 
been most annoying, for he was a fine bird. 
Or should I go ahead? Possibly, but how? 
I had ammunition but nothing with which 
to fire it. So much the worse 1 A rather 
foolish idea ran through my brain. I was 
going to try to get him at a disadvantage, 
while avoiding his fire as much as possible, 
for I assure you that his gun was still in 
good working order. 

96 



A BATTLE WITHOUT A GUN 97 

"We came down to less than 2,000 meters. 
I followed him unceasingly, trying not to let 
him know my inferiority in weapons. I shot 
upward and dived down at him, and he con- 
tinued to descend. I put myself some ten 
meters behind him. His passenger could not 
fire at me, but he pretended to be about to 
shoulder me aside, when I came up on either 
side. Soon I began the same manoeuvers 
over again, and he quietly allowed me to do 
it. How would it end? We were traveling 
rapidly towards the French lines, and did 
not stop coming closer to the ground. We 
were only a few meters away. No, he will 
never consent! It is impossible! But yes, 
there can be no mistake. My Boche is go- 
ing to our place. He was afraid and landed 
in our lines. He surrendered! 

"What a joy! I had won my thirteenth 
victory by a bluif . It was a double victory, 
for through him I was able to confirm my 
victory of the morning. There was but one 



98 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

shadow on the picture, he had found time to 
set fire to his machine before it was cap- 
tured. He admitted to us that he belonged 
to Squadron A, 226, made up of Albatros 
machines. 

"We had begun our aerial jousting above 
Mouchy and it was between Montdidier and 
Compiegne that my victims had alighted, not 
far from the villa where my parents lived. 

"I admit, when I told my prisoners that 
I could not have done anything to hurt 
them, and that they really had me at their 
mercy, the expression on their faces amused 
us immensely. My first shots were so effec- 
tive that they were not anxious for any more. 
Yes, but the others could not get to them." 

I have seldom seen Guynemer so happy as 
when he told of this fight, which, more than 
anything else, proved his complete mastery, 
his science of air-work, his bravery, delibera- 
tion and implacable determination. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 

The youthful pilot Rene Altmayer, who 
fell for France and had become noted 
through his articles signed "Fortunio," sent 
me what he called a Winged Prose Poem: 
"The Avenging Storks/' from which I make 
these extracts : 

"I want the reader to know, how, 
after clearing the skies of the Somme, 
Guynemer and his valiant companions 
purified the heavens so continuously 
outraged over Nancy. 

"It was one calamity among many. 
It seemed as if fate were against the 
unhappy city of Lorraine. 

"The black birds — ever the black 
birds 1 

99 



98 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

shadow on the picture, he had found time to 
set fire to his machine before it was cap- 
tured. He admitted to us that he belonged 
to Squadron A, 226, made up of Albatros 
machines. 

"We had begun our aerial jousting above 
Mouchy and it was between Montdidier and 
Compiegne that my victims had alighted, not 
far from the villa where my parents lived. 

"I admit, when I told my prisoners that 
I could not have done anything to hurt 
them, and that they really had me at their 
mercy, the expression on their faces amused 
us immensely. My first shots were so effec- 
tive that they were not anxious for any more. 
Yes, but the others could not get to them." 

I have seldom seen Guynemer so happy as 
when he told of this fight, which, more than 
anything else, proved his complete mastery, 
his science of air-work, his bravery, delibera- 
tion and implacable determination. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 

The youthful pilot Rene Altmayer, who 
fell for France and had become noted 
through his articles signed "Fortunio," sent 
me what he called a Winged Prose Poem: 
"The Avenging Storks," from which I make 
these extracts : 

"I want the reader to know, how, 
after clearing the skies of the Somme, 
Guynemer and his valiant companions 
purified the heavens so continuously 
outraged over Nancy. 

"It was one calamity among many. 
It seemed as if fate were against the 
unhappy city of Lorraine. 

"The black birds — ever the black 
birds ! 

99 



100 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"Every day we had to record the 
death of workmen, fallen upon a real 
field of honor, at the anvil or the lathe, 
the death of innocent women and chil- 
dren. 

" 'For three years now — said an old 
inhabitant of Nancy— women and girls 
have been assassinated by German 
bombs — we live in a nightmare every 
instant.' 

"Every day, over the crests of the 
surrounding hills, all buried in mist, 
the city has seen with horror the ap- 
proach of the two horsemen of the 
Apocalypse of Saint John: War and 
Death, perched upon their gigantic and 
sinister mounts. 

"This menacing apparition lasting a 
little while, is blotted out by a cloud, as 
of blood — :the two scourges fleeing to- 
wards other accursed places, or to curse 
them. 



THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 101 

"The light of the sun itself seems less 
brilliant and its rays are less warm. An 
inexplicable uneasiness weighs upon 
man and beast and all living things. 
The leaves of the trees rustle no more, 
stopped by some higher power. In the 
fields the birds cease their songs and hide 
in the thickest foliage. All is dumb. 
The oppression becomes more and more 
heavy o In the broad meadows the red 
and white cattle look restlessly at the 
horizon and then lie down, stretching 
out their long necks in fear amid the 
damp grass. 

"This strange calmness, this impres- 
sive silence are but the advance signs of 
the daily stormy tempest, of the cat- 
aclysm which at the Equinox in hot 
countries, ruins in a few instants the 
luxurious crops of the rich earth and 
transforms into debris the picturesque 
homes of the colonists and natives. 



102 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"Sadness fills the towns and country. 
The workmen continue their arduous 
labors, with painful apprehension in 
their souls. The few stragglers flee to 
shelter. From all sides the sweet-toned 
bells, in their high belfries, still stand- 
ing as if in supreme defiance, sending a 
sinister knell, painful, heavy, fateful, 
over the city like a voice of agony. 

"It seems to say in its raucous lan- 
guage: 

" 'Brave people, take care, danger 
threatens.' 

"And now very soon, on the distant 
horizon, over the edge of the clouds, 
which become dark, appear little black 
specks which move with strange ra- 
pidity. They approach the city, increas- 
ing quickly in size accompanied by a 
deep humming, filled with menace and 
hate. 

"A sorrowful cry passes speedily, ter- 




Photo by Underwood & Underwood. 
Still the hero of all France. 



THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 103 

rifyingly, over the city: *The black 
birds! The black birds!' 

"There they are, in great numbers, 
spreading their shadows over the earth 
from sinister wings. 

"There are slow vultures, enormous, 
bearing death. About them cleave the 
rapid hawks, with pointed wings and 
sharp beaks ready for the fight. 

"From the suburbs of the city, their 
nests hidden under large trees, white 
pigeons hasten forth to pursue the sav- 
age horde. A superb flight of courage 
and audacity, generous thrusts, filled 
with useless heroism, alas! too often. 
Their poor wings, ill adapted for the 
race, do not help them to rise with suf- 
ficient rapidity. Their beaks, formed 
for other work than battle, do not serve 
them at the required moment. Never- 
theless, they ascend and throw them- 



104 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

selves upon the invaders, who hastily 
sow death beneath them. 

"In the wide spaces there are tragic 
struggles. The powerful ranks of vul- 
tures and hawks ferociously crunch the 
bodies of the poor pigeons. Their 
sharp beaks dig into the flesh with a 
terrible grating of teeth, their claws 
^ tear them apart. Sometimes, the 
French bird, with bloody plumage and 
broken wings, falls gloriously upon the 
sacred soil which it had come to de- 
fend. 

"Over the city each vulture had se- 
lected the place for which its savage in- 
stinct had a preference. One soared 
over a church. Another over a school 
where innocent little children, gay as 
larks, were learning to hate Germany! 

"With a guttural cry of gratified rage 
the black band disappeared on fleeting 



THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 105 

wings, harassed by the courageous 
pigeons. 

"On the following night they came 
again, hiding their somber plmnage in 
the deepest shadows. 

"This series of misfortunes had to be 
stopped. But what was the power that 
could put an end to these assassina- 
tions ? 

* * M^ ^ 

"However, on a certain day the city 
had the air of a feast day, though no 
one could tell why all faces smiled. The 
habitual gravity had given way to a 
serene tranquillity. Hearts were light. 
A new life seemed to have been born. 

"Upon what did this sudden meta- 
morphosis rest? The rigors of a hard 
winter had not stopped the bloody in- 
cursions of the black birds. On the con- 
trary, the cold seemed to have made 
them even more savage and greedy. 



106 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"Notwithstanding, this city in Lor- 
raine, so long plunged in sorrowful 
apathy, suddenly awakened. Was the 
nightmare about to cease? 

"The explanation of these strange 
events came one day in January. Snow 
covered the country, shining in all its 
resplendent whiteness under the pale 
rays of a Winter sun. Suddenly, 
throughout the city, what strange 
sounds were heard: 

"The Storks! The Storks!' 

"Then they appeared upon the hori- 
zon, a bright line advancing rapidly. 
They were soaring at a great height. 
They count a dozen. On long, slender 
wings they come slowly down and land 
upon a broad field, back of a great 
woods which surround the city. 

"The joyful inhabitants shout enthu- 
siastically. The nightmare would now 
soon be over. These glorious birds, who 



THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 107 

avenge and clear the heavens, were 
ready for battle, now on equal terms, 
in which their skill and their valor would 
triumph over the ferocious robbers. 

"On the very morrow the fray in the 
heavens begins. On that very day the 
two sinister riders of the Apocalypse 
did not appear. The winter birds sang 
over the plowed fields. The sun became 
warmer, its light brighter. Then the 
unknowing robbers came as was their 
habit. This calm quiet seemed to make 
them hesitate, as if suspecting a danger 
which they did not know. Some, boldly 
came closer. That was the signal for 
the hecatomb. 

"From the skies where they had kept 
themselves invisible, the storks plunged 
downward, and in powerful flight, mag- 
nificently beautiful, they pounced upon 
the black birds, all surprised and 
stunned. The long beaks of the aveng- 



108 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ing birds would soon pierce the hearts 
of the rapid hawks or huge vultures. 
All of them were not to return home. 
Some of them, slashed to bits, were to 
redden the snow. As soon as they were 
lifted up they were nailed in the pil- 
lory in the principal square of the vil- 
lage. 

"For several days the savages did not 
come back. The Storks went after 
them, to attack them in their own nests 
and vengeance was exacted implacably. 
*Eye for eye, tooth for tooth I' 

"The number of victims increased. 
The purging was quickly done. For a 
long time the city saw no more black 
birds, except those which, after being 
conquered, stretched their remains on 
the square in exhibition. The bad 
dream was over. The lesson had been 
as deserved. 

"Several of the Storks in the course 



THE OUTRAGES AT NANCY 109 

of these combats distinguished them- 
selves particularly. One of them, al- 
ready celebrated in the bird-world and 
on earth, was named Guynemer. He 
was young and had not yet grown the 
plumage of the adult bird, but on the 
left side of his white garb there were 
many colors — ^red, yellow, green — the 
emblem of the glorious heroism of this 
splendid bird, who with pitiless beak 
had already brought to earth many of 
those black birds." 



CHAPTER XVII 

A FIRST TRIPLE 

If at the moment of the Verdun attack 
the East had been unfortunate for the Ace 
of Aces, on the contrary Nancy was to be 
worth an entire series of successes, one of 
which was an official triple (felling three 
aeroplanes in one day) . Nungesser was the 
only other man up to that time who had 
achieved a similar exploit, triumphing over 
an airship and two aeroplanes on September 
26th, 1916. Guynemer, the hero of "Dou- 
bles," did even better, bringing down four 
enemies within ten hours! 

He began his avenging patrols on Feb- 
ruary 7th at 11:20, over the forest of Be- 
zange, bringing down one adversary, com- 
pletely disabled. This was merely to get 

110 



A FIRST TRIPLE 111 

the Lorraine sky well in hand, we might 
say; for this semi-success does not comit. 
To-morrow the Ace will do better! 

On this day the flight was a difficult one. 
Guynemer told me about it at the same time 
that he was telling of subsequent victories: 

"I had left on February 8th, cruising with 
my comrade Chainat. Of course the Boches, 
who still thought themselves secure, did not 
hesitate to try an incursion over Nancy. But 
we opened their eyes. 

''Suddenly we saw a tremendous machine, 
equipped with two Mercedes motors of 220 
horse-power, carrying three men, scattering 
fire and bullets on all sides. It was a Gotha, 
an aeroplane little known at the time, and 
very formidable. Neither one of us hesi- 
tated for an instant, but each attacked it 
from opposite sides. I felt easy with Chai- 
nat, for he is cool, brave, resourceful and 
deliberate. We soon ascertained that these 
machines have considerable dead angles of 



112 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

fire. In fact, we would have had to be very 
stupid not to see the points at which the 
bullets fired so profusely could not reach us. 
We fired entire belts of cartridges while 
avoiding the fire of the enemy, and forced 
the aerobus, whose radiator we had smashed, 
to land in our lines at Bouconville, where 
the three passengers were made prisoners. 
The apparatus had he en struck hy 180 
hulletsT 

On the day afterwards Guynemer prob- 
ably beat down an aeroplane at 11 :15 near 
Nomeny, for this was the famous day, March 
16th. And as is the case in the greatest 
achievements, the purely anecdotic side of 
this triple is rather weak. In a few words 
the hero told me about it: 

"Two in the morning in twenty-two min- j 
utes, one in the afternoon. The chief point 
of interest in the story is that all three fell 
within our lines and that one of the Boches 



ET 













«:;! 









■f0<*-,3^iA^'->\. «U^ 






^ Piece of the caiwas from one of Guynemer's luings, pierced 
by a Boche bullet June 7, 1917, signed by him 
^gnd gi'ven to Captain Lasies. 



A FIRST TRIPLE 113 

was a well-known Ace, Lieutenant von 
Hausen, the nephew of a general. 

"I brought down the first one in flames, 
a two-seated Albatros, at 9 :08. He fell on 
the Foucrey farm, near the village of Serres. 
The machine was a cinder. At 9:30, after 
fighting against three single-seated hunting 
planes, with Deullin, I was again fortunate, 
bringing one to earth north of Hoeville, the 
Rumpler driven by von Hausen. Finally 
at 2:80 my thirty-fourth victim fell to the 
earth in flames at Regnieville en Haye. 
This was another two-seater. Five Boches 
were thus withdrawn from circulation, two 
. Albatroses and a Rumpler, which the King 
of Prussia no longer owned." 

Promoted to a captaincy, Guynemer 
brought down his thirty-fifth in flames on 
March 17th, over the lines between Attillon- 
court and Attancourt. A few shots had been 
enough to send this somber Boche into noth- 
ingness. 



114 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

And an admirable, unique citation thanked 
the pilot in these words: 

"On February 8th, March 16 and 17, 
1917, he has brought down five enemy aero- 
planes within our lines." 

Only one palm for five enemies fallen 
within our lines in five weeks. Only a Guy- 
nemer could secure no more recognition! 

The Aisne section was to have need of our 
best pilots and the Storks were the first 
called. It was for an offensive and they 
were to put out the eyes of the enemy. Our 
Boche-hunters were to have work and glory 
enough. 

Guynemer was hurrying the completion of 
his new aeroplane, built upon lines which 
would revolutionize hunting aviation. After 
a couple of trials he went to the front, went 
up in the air, beat down what he found and 
returned. Thus it was that on April 13th 



A FIRST TRIPLE 115 

he beat down a machine, and the second day 
afterwards he began again, but only the 
latter is counted for him, notwithstanding 
the certainty that the other was destroyed. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

YENGEANCE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH 

An official announcement of May 8th 
speaks thus laconically about the Giant of 
Space : 

"Captain Guynemer has beaten down his 
thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth adversa- 
ries." 

The latter was especially difficult. 

"That cursed thirty-eighth," said Guyne- 
mer, "was one who certainly brought me a 
few sensations. I had attacked and thought 
that I had beaten him without difficulty, for 
I saw him going downward out of control. 
The pilot had been killed by the first shots, 
for I plainly saw his head fall over in the 
fuselage. Everything was going well and 

116 



VENGEANCE 117 

I followed the flight chiefly to locate the spot 
where he was about to crash to earth. 

"I paid no attention whatsoever to what 
was going on aboard. To me that Boche 
was listed, catalogued, numbered — dead. 

"Yes, but we do not think of everything. 
Suddenly a hail of bullets swept around my 
Spad. That was coming it strong! I was 
showered on all sides, and it is a miracle that 
I was not wounded, or killed outright. A 
man has to watch everything in this pro- 
fession. I looked and saw the observer, who 
was trying to deliver a second round. His 
aeroplane was falling through space, his 
pilot was dead, but he would avenge him- 
self. And I must admit that this attempt 
was very fine; knowing that in a few in- 
stants he would be nothing more than a mass 
of mangled flesh and bones crushed to the 
earth, he was trying his best to take with 
him the one who had brought about his 
death. Yes, it was magnificent, but after 



118 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

all did not this Boche consider that his pilot 
was no more, and was he thinking of some 
manoeuver? I think, weighing the mental- 
ity of the enemy, that this hypothesis was a 
closer approach to the normal. 

"Nevertheless, I shall always remember 
that adversary standing up tragically in the 
fuselage and sending a fire at me that was 
indeed direct. Several important parts of 
my machine were struck, but happily with- 
out any serious consequences. 

''Notwithstanding everything, I may be 
wrong in passing a rash judgment upon the 
observer. It would have been so noble, if 
true, had he utilized the last seconds of his 
life in trying to bring me down. 'Ave Caesar 
morituri te salutant' (the ancient salutation 
of the gladiators in the Roman circus) would 
in this case have to read: 'Adieu, Guyne- 
mer, he who is about to die, kills you.' Some 
others, but Frenchmen, have done so. You 
remember that case of the tragedy which 



VENGEANCE 119 

you have related about Lieutenant FlocE 
and Sergeant Rhode coming down all afire 
and how they turned and charged directly 
at the Fokker which had beaten them, lock- 
ing themselves into it, and that they thus 
took it with them to destruction in the midst 
of spouting flames. They were young in- 
deed, but we can only bow before brave boys 
of such temper." 

New citation: "Incomparable hunting 
pilot: April 14th, May 2nd and May 4th, 
1917, he has beaten down his thirty-sixth, 
thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth enemy aero- 
planes." 

And now we come to the most glorious 
day of all, if in this debauch of heroism one 
of them could prove more glorious than the 
others. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE MAGIC QUADRUPLE 

It was on May 25th, 1917, that Gujme- 
mer succeeded in defeating four aeroplanes, 
one of these in one minute. The official 
documents read: 

"In the period between May ITth and 
May 31st Captain Guynemer has beaten 
down by himself five aeroplanes, four of 
them in one day. Two of these machines 
were brought down with an interval of only 
one minute between them, probably for the 
first time in this war. 

"These five latest victories bring the nima- 
ber of German aeroplanes destroyed by this 
valiant officer up to forty-three to date." 

On September 23rd, 1916, Guynemer told 
me that he had beaten down two Boches in 

120 



THE MAGIC QUADRUPLE 121 

thirty seconds, but he could not get the sec- 
ond one made official. But now no hesita- 
tion was possible. Here is the Ace's time- 
table: 

1st Aeroplane 8:30 

2nd " 8:31 

3rd " ..>;.. 12:15 

4th " i.z.i 6:30 

Here, too, is the press comment which ap- 
peared following this event: 

"S. E. (Sein Excellenz) von Hoeppner 
has not a chance. Or possibly, to be sure of 
his words, S. E. von Hoeppner does not 
read the reports on aviation. S. E. von 
Hoeppner is the Director- General of Ger- 
man aviation. 

"On May 28th last the German papers 
published an interview in which he asserted 
that the German machines and aviators were 
far superior to all others. But May 25th 
was a festal day for French aviation. 



122 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"On that one day Captain Guynemer 
brought down all alone four enemy aero- 
planes, which brings the number of his per- 
sonal victories up to forty-two and gives 
his squadron 120 to its credit. These figures 
would be added to considerably if we were 
to include many cases in which aeroplanes 
were seen to go down beyond control, but 
where there is not absolute certainty of their 
destruction. 

"Four aeroplanes beaten down, on one 
day by the same aviator, this figure has never 
been attained heretofore. On February 
26th, 1916, Navarre secured the first 
'double,' two aeroplanes brought down 
within our lines. Nungesser, on the Somme, 
destroyed a balloon and two aeroplanes on 
a single morning. Guynemer himself, in 
Lorraine, brought down three aeroplanes in 
one day. He has surpassed both his rivals 
and himself. 

"He began with a double : at an interval of 




Guynemer ivith the military medal and "Legion of Honor. 




Guynemer and his machine, after a 3,000-metre tumble. 



THE MAGIC QUADRUPLE ns 

one minute — one at 8:30, the other at 8:31, 
one north of Corbeny (northeast of Cra- 
onne), the other at Juvincourt (east of Cra- 
onne) — both the German planes came down 
on fire. 

" 'As to the French aviators/ declares his 
excellency, General von Hoeppner, 'they 
never engage in a combat unless they deem 
themselves sure of a victory: if they do not 
consider themselves stronger, they prefer to 
abandon the execution of their mission 
rather than engage in a struggle of which 
the result may be doubtful.' 

"On May 25th, in the morning, Guyne- 
mer saw three enemy aeroplanes flying in 
concert towards our lines. Doubtless, one 
against three, he considered himself assured 
of victory. How could he engage in a fight 
of which the result might be doubtful? He 
pounced upon his three enemies, who took 
flight. He attacked one of them, manoeu- 
vering to get him in the line of fire, fired, and 



124 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

after the first shots the enemy machine dived 
and fell in flames. 

"Meanwhile the danger for the single- 
seated aeroplane was surprise from the 
rear. While he was attacking in front, it 
was necessary for Guynemer to watch the 
rear. Guynemer turned, and saw a second 
adversary coming full at him, trying to 
reach him. But he had fired already from 
above downward, and hit him with an ex- 
plosive bullet. Like the first, this aeroplane 
takes fire and goes down burning. 

"The victories of Guynemer are lightning- 
like. They require only a few seconds of 
fighting. 

"Guynemer alighted after this double, but 
indefatigable. Fighting excites him, sets 
his nerves a-tingle, and his will is made reso- 
lute. Once again we see him in the paths 
of the air. 

"Towards noon an audacious German 
aeroplane flew over the aviation field. Our 



THE MAGIC QUADRUPLE 125 

squadrons have taught the enemy respect 
for our lines. The unfortunate fellow who 
ventures above them seldom returns home. 
How had this one broken through the bar- 
rage? But to ascend to the sky after him 
and to reach him, no matter how speedy the 
machine, takes several minutes, time enough 
for the enemy to flee, having accomplished 
his mission. For all of the machines had 
come down, all except Guynemer, 

"On the aviation field every one was look- 
ing into the air, some straining their eyes, 
others with field-glasses. Some one shouted 
all at once: 

" ^There's Guynemer!' 

"The German was doomed. 

"Guynemer came upon him like a whirl- 
wind. He fired upon his adversary. Only 
one shot from his machine-gun was heard. 
The aeroplane fell, the propeller revolving 
at full speed, and dug itself into the earth. 



126 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Guynemer had killed the pilot with a bullet 
in the head. 

"That evening Guynemer went out for the 
third time. It was about seven o'clock, over 
the gardens of Guignicourt, that a fourth 
machine, beaten down by him, fell in flames. 

"And as the young conqueror came down 
at sunset, he executed all kinds of figures in 
the air to announce his victory to his com- 
rades, all the turns, and twists and loopings 
in which he was so great a master. 

"What can be added to such praise? 
What is to be said about that day? What 
words, what expressions are to be used? We 
have not sufficiently eloquent words in our 
vocabulary to render sufficient homage to 
this master of mastery. He plays in space 
and space belongs to him." 

But some facts must be added as a se- 
quence to the official announcements. The 
first aeroplane brought down was a two- 
seater, of which one wing was broken by 



THE MAGIC QUADRUPLE 1^7 

the fall, and then fell into the trees near 
Corbeny. The second, another two-seater, 
fell on fire near Juvincourt. The third was 
a D.F.W., also brought down afire near 
Courlandon. Finally, the fourth, also set 
on fire, dropped between Conde sur Suippes 
and Guignicourt. Add to this that on that 
same day Guynemer had collaborated with 
Captain Auger (the slain Ace) in a demi- 
success, and that he put to flight with the 
same pilot a group of six single-seaters. 
Are we not right when we call this Ace 
"The Giant of the Air"? 



CHAPTER XX 

AN ENEMY PICTURE OF GUYNEMEE 

It is amusing now to read about Guyne- 
mer's tactics, according to the Boches. It 
was the subject of an article which seems to 
have been inspired by the German General 
Staff, for I had occasion to find it in several 
different papers. Here is a translation of 
what appeared in the Badische Presse of 
August 8th, 1917. 

"That man flying so high is the celebrated 
Guynemer. He is the rival of the boldest 
German pilots, the glory of French avia- 
tion, an Ace, as the French call their most 
successful air fighters. He is a redoubtable 
antagonist, for he is the absolute master of 
his rapid machine and, moreover, an expert 
gunner. But this Ace never accepts a duel 

128 



ENEMY PICTURE OF GUYNEMER 129 

in the skies except under conditions most 
favorable to himself. He flies above the 
German lines at an altitude which varies 
between 6,000 and 7,000 meters, a height at 
which no aerial cannon of defense can reach 
him. His flights are never for observation 
purposes, for from that height he can dis- 
tinguish nothing; he cannot even note the 
movements of the German troops. 

"Guynemer is solely a hunting aviator 
who attacks enemy aeroplanes. In this do- 
main his trixmiphs have been quite numer- 
ous, although he is not a Richthofen. He 
is very prudent in his attacks. Flying al- 
ways, as we have stated, at about 6,000 me- 
ters high he waits until an aeroplane rises 
from the German lines or returns towards 
them. Then he swoops down upon him like 
a falcon and opens fire with his machine-gun. 
If he succeeds only in wounding his adver- 
sary, or if this enemy, untouched, accepts 
battle, Guynemer takes refuge in the 



130 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

French lines at a speed of 250 kilometers 
an hour, which his very powerful motor 
makes possible. He never accepts battle 
upon equal terms. Every one must hunt as 
he can." 

To this monument of equivocation the 
facts cited before are a clear reply. But 
it seems to me useful to correct some of the 
lies or statements contained in this sad 
paper. 

First. "No anti-aerial cannon can reach 
Guynemer." However, on September 23rd, 
1916, our 75 anti-aerial accomplished the 
task which the Germans confess they can- 
not do. 

Second. "Guynemer is solely a hunting 
aviator who attacks the enemy aeroplanes." 
If only M. de la Palisse were still alive he 
would not give any other definition of the 
hunter of Boches. But we recall that this 
Ace also knew how to accomplish fruitful 
reconnoissances at the time when he was not 



ENEMY PICTURE OF GUYNEMER 131 

yet "solely" a hunting aviator. The author 
of this article ought to ask a violinist 
if introduced to him, "Please play the 
clarionette." 

Third. "Guynemer is not a Richtho- 
fen." Thank God! Captain Baron von 
Richthofen takes advantage of all kinds of 
bluffs and painful circumstances which 
often sadden the enemy aviators. The num- 
ber of his victories rises like a thermometer 
in the sun whenever valiant enemy Aces 
fall, or the supremacy of the air belongs to 
us beyond question. We have to think that 
this Richthofen is not a myth, a fantastic 
personage who in himself alone represents 
all of the hunting done. That would be a 
useful precaution: in this way the Boches 
would not risk losing him. When he was 
cited for the first time in an official commu- 
nication the Wolff Agency accorded him 
seventeen victories. But he had never 
beaten down an aeroplane. His persever- 



132 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ance in mediocrity had made him celebrated, 
but he did not know how to take the place 
of Boelcke who was a real fighter. Oh, no, 
the Boche is right a thousand times over: 
"Guynemer is not a Richthofen," and we 
congratulate ourselves that this is true. 

Fourth. Guynemer's tactics, so rigor- 
ously analyzed in the course of the article, 
are to be objected to only for one reason. 
These tactics were never the tactics of the 
Ace, but they were the tactics which made 
Lieutenant Immelmann glorious in Ger- 
many, gaining him the sobriquet, "The 
Falcon of Cambrai." There is, however, 
one little mistake: Immelmann could never 
take refuge in his own lines, for he never 
came over ours. In reply to this grotesque 
journalist, let us recall to his mind that pur- 
suit for more than seventy kilometers, which 
resulted in a double victory for our hero on 
November 10th, 1916. 

Fifth. "He never accepts battle upon 




Captain Guynemer decorated ivith the Rosette of the 

Legion of Honor, in l^p t>resence of the 

troops of France. 




He has just recei'ved the Bosptte as an officer of the 
Legion of Honor, 



ENEMY PICTURE OF GUYNEMER 133 

equal terms." True, for all the greatest 
German Aces were his inferiors, and this 
is the reason that, being never satisfied with 
their quality, he had to content himself mod- 
estly with quantity. Lieutenant von Han- 
sen, taken prisoner, would be vexed indeed 
if he knew how little his compatriots thought 
of him. 

Sixth. "Every one must hunt as he can.'^ 
There again we agree fully, and it is well 
for them that there was never another man 
like Guynemer, because he hunted as he 
could, and whatever he wanted to do he 
could do. Among the Boches their hunters 
do what they can, but the expression can 
never be used with that same significance. 



CHAPTER XXI 

AN OFFICER OF THE LEGION OF HONOR 

The exploit of May 25th was well worth 
the rosette of the Legion of Honor which 
was awarded to Captain Guynemer with this 
rugged commendation : 

"An elite officer, a fighting pilot as skill- 
ful as audacious. He has rendered glow- 
ing service to the Country, both by the num- 
ber of his victories and the daily example 
which he has set of burning ardor and even 
greater mastery increasing from day to day. 
Unconscious of danger, on account of his 
sureness of method and precision of manoeu- 
vers, he has become the most redoubtable 
of all to the enemy. On May 25th, 1917, 
he accomplished one of his most brilliant ex- 

134 



AN OFFICER OF LEGION OF HONOR 135 

ploits, beating down two enemy aeroplanes 
in one minute, and gaining two more vic- 
tories on the same day. By all of his ex- 
ploits he has contributed towards exalting 
the courage and enthusiasm of those who, 
from the trenches, were the witnesses of his 
triumphs. He has brought down forty-five 
aeroplanes, received twenty citations and 
been wounded twice." 

The forty-fourth and forty-fifth victims 
were brought down on June 5th; one was 
an Albatros which crashed to earth near 
Berry du Bac, when the hero attacked a 
D.F.W., which after having given the sig- 
nal of surrender, tried to flee, thinking that 
the Frenchman had his machine-gun 
jammed. But during the pursuit this 
weapon did not remain inactive, for it be- 
gan to work, and did fire: a few cartridges 
and the aeroplane began timibling through 
the air, throwing the passenger out as it fell, 



136 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

while Guynemer came down in the forest of 
Berru. 

I went to see Guynemer to congratulate 
him, when he made his first trip to Paris. 
He was so hurried that he could give me only 
a few hasty facts : 

"What more can I tell you than has al- 
ready been written about my day's work 
on May 25th? The official cormnent was 
based upon the facts as submitted by me. 
I could not help forgetting you under the 
circumstances, but you have already written 
about it in The Matin, Only one thing in- 
terested me deeply; to drop a Boche with a 
single bullet, the last of my belt, at the mo- 
ment when that individual seemed about to 
come and defy us on our own field. 

"This war has furnished me with varied 
sensations. My record up to that time was 
three shots; for on another occasion I had 
killed the pilot with one bullet, and the ob- 
server with the second. Finally you recol- 



AN OFFICER OF LEGION OF HONOR 137 

lect that one which I captured without firing 
a single shot, because my gun refused to 
work. 

"Moreover, that trick came near being 
repeated for my forty-fifth. It was pre- 
cisely under similar circumstances, with the 
aggravation that the enemy had given the 
signal *Kamerad,' and then tried to run 
away. Excited at his breach of faith and 
having been able to get my machine-gun 
working, I made up my mind to be avenged. 
I was going to pulverize that Boche ! Wliile 
trying to teach those fellows how to live I 
have sent them to death. 

"While we are on the subject of curious 
victories, write this down in your note-book. 
One day it occurred to me to amuse myself, 
and at the same time to frighten a Boche 
by attacking him without trying to shoot, 
but passing as close to him as possible. I 
saw him, caught up with him, passed him, 
turned, and what did I see? Was it be- 



188 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

cause of an air-eddy or fear? Whatever it 
was I saw the observer who was aboard the 
aeroplane make a tremendous leap into the 
air, as if shot upward by a spring, and fall 
back, but not into the fuselage. The poor 
fellow landed all alone ! I had time to pho- 
tograph him with a special apparatus which 
makes it possible for me to bring back in- 
disputable proofs of my victories. The pic- 
ture is not very clear, you may well say, but 
we can distinguish after a fashion the agony 
of this fellow beaten down by persuasion!" 



CHAPTER XXII 

ELEVEN SHOTS FOR THREE BOCHES 

A FEW days later Guynemer was to pre- 
sent more evidence of his marvelous skill 
and inconceivable heroism. 

On July 5th he dashed into the sky with 
that machine which the exigencies of the 
censor oblige me to term without greater 
precision, the magic aeroplane. It was 
really impossible at that time to say more 
about this novelty called forth to revolution- 
ize the methods of hunting and processes 
of attack. It was the first time that the Ace 
had mounted his fantastic machine at the 
front. He was about to engage three 
D.F.W. aeroplanes, but he was not very 
fortunate. He had to do with some brave 
fellows manoeuvering in concert and had to 

139 



140 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

expect a vigorous reply. His Spad was hit 
by several bullets, one went through his radi- 
ator, another through his motor. 

Guynemer went back. He had almost 
missed the solemn ceremonial which had 
been prepared for him. Yes, on that very 
day, when he had gone forth the slave of 
duty, to fight in space, he had upon his re- 
turn to receive the rosette of the Legion of 
Honor which General Franchet d'Esperey 
was to give him. Such was the enthusiasm 
of this great Frenchman, for whom no 
respite, no leisure could exist so long as 
there was a corner of the skies to be cleared ! 

The damaged aeroplane had to be con- 
fided to the care of those admirable sur- 
geons, the mechanics. Guynemer was com- 
pelled to go back to his Spad with machine- 
guns. But this did not stop him from add- 
ing to his list. 

On July 7th he arrived on the front, re- 
turning from Paris, where he had spent 



ELEVEN SHOTS FOR THREE BOCHES 141 

forty-eight hours talking matters over with 
his constructors. He hardly reached the 
aerodrome before starting out on a cruise. 
On the way he met a superb Aviatik of the 
latest model, driven by a 200 horsepower 
Benz motor. He attacked : at the third shot 
he saw it falling fast and on fire. This was 
very fortunate, for his gun jammed after 
the winning shot. 

The second day following he gave combat 
to four single-seated Albatroses. Three of 
them fled very soon, probably finding, as 
the official Boche journalist put it, that the 
"fight was unequal." The fourth received 
the full shock. The pursuit lasted while 
they descended from 3,000 meters to about 
800. At this moment the Ace secured a 
favorable position: five shots, and the Boche 
tumbled in flames in our lines near Villers 
Franqueux and dug himself into the 
ground. The cruiser went ahead. Less 
than an hour later there was another duel. 



142 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

which was at an elevation of 5,500 meters. 
Three shots were needed to obtain the de- 
sired result. The aeroplane, a latest model 
D.F.W., fell with a tail-spin flat upon our 
lines, striking squarely upon one of our can- 
non, which it damaged to a certain extent, 
at Moussy sur Aisne. The observer had 
been instantly killed, but the pilot by some 
miracle emerged from this drama with quite 
a sensation. He explained to those who 
came up to make him prisoner that his com- 
rade and he had really had no chance what- 
ever. They had just come back directly 
from Russia and the flight which had ended 
so strangely was the first one they had taken 
on our front. It was well worth the trou- 
ble of taking that long trip to find them- 
selves face to face with Guynemer in space. 
These three victories, the forty-sixth, 
forty-seventh and forty-eighth, had used up 
but eleven bullets, for the very good and 
sufficient reason that the victor's machine- 



ELEVEN SHOTS FOR THREE ROCHES 143 

gun jammed with deplorable regularity as 
soon as the fifth shot was fired. The Ace 
knew this, but he also knew quite as well that 
when he took the pains the least number of 
shots would be enough for him to conquer. 
He was satisfied to get all the closer to his 
adversary, an admirable precaution of brav- 
ery which illustrates once more the hero's 
character. 

But illness prevented Guynemer from any 
more aerial battles for several days. He had 
to withdraw to a hospital, being the victim of 
the beginning of some kind of poisoning. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

A MODEST HEEO 

Some persons, who thought themselves 
well informed, announced that the flag of 
the Aeronautical Division was to be carried 
by the Ace of Aces in the July 14th Review. 
But they knew him very poorly. He who 
blushed almost when any one looked at him, 
or when he was hailed as he passed, he who 
had a horror of ostentation and parade was 
not the man, no matter how great the honor 
of such service, to pass through the streets 
of Paris this way. He wanted to be un- 
known to the crowd; he wanted to be like 
one of those heroes of the infantry whom we 
do not know ; he would accept, but he, Guy- 
nemer, would not like to he an attraction 
to the beautiful spectacle witnessed by the 

144 



A MODEST HERO 146 

Parisians on the National holiday in 1917. 

He spoke about it to me, a few days after- 
wards : 

"I have seldom laughed as much as on 
that occasion. Many of the people seemed 
to recognize me, and acclaimed me. My 
poor comrade who really carried the ban- 
ner of the Aviation division must have been 
greatly annoyed by these ovations which 
gave him no pleasure. But he could not 
answer, *I am not he!' And I assure you 
I would not have wanted to be seen walking 
along under those conditions. Why should 
I allow myself to be appointed when in the 
cortege the detachments of all the most glo- 
rious regiments of France marched by? 
Each one of those soldiers had done prodi- 
gies of heroism, each one was to be vene- 
rated and admired. How, then, should I 
have been picked out because of my activ- 
ity in the Fifth Arm? Before such flagrant 
injustice I could not hesitate a moment. It 



146 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

would have been odious on my part to allow 
them to make me a banner-bearer and to 
shout at me like the fat calf (the famous 
fatted calf of the procession on Mardi Gras) . 
No, I would not have wanted to be merely 
the fat calf, at which they would look and 
say: 'There he is! That's he!' Not on your 
life ! That is the way to make all the infan- 
try detest the aviators, whereas the poilus 
and the pilots ought to love one another and 
live with mutual respect. 

"Very often, when I have advanced these 
theories before some men, the malicious have 
asked: 'Why, then, do you go out with all 
your crosses and medals on your breast?' 
At bottom they were right, they could not 
know! If I do this it is not because I take 
pleasure in it, for if it be sweet to know that 
you are celebrated, glory is accompanied by 
many drawbacks. You no longer belong 
to yourself, you belong to everybody. To 
be well known is to see around you all the 




Giiynemer face to face 'with a defeated Boche. 



A MODEST HERO 147 

time a number of persons who never cared 
for you before but have suddenly assumed 
a pseudo-friendship for you. All at once 
they find out that you are a charming con- 
versationalist, an infinitely fine soul, and 
more of the same kind of gush. Their ob- 
ject is to go out with you, and to take you 
to see their people. And when they look at 
you they imagine that you admire them. 
The misfortune of renown? You no longer 
know where sincerity begins, whether they 
are pleasant to you out of friendship or van- 
ity. We are apt to become unjust to those 
who do not deserve it, and confide in others 
who deserve it still less. The women roll 
their eyes tenderly as they look at you and 
when you think that they are looking at your 
face they are studying your medals. 

"And the journalists! You at least have 
known me ever since I began, and my friend- 
ship for you dates from that time. But those 
who have only begun to discover me and 



148 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

boast about me because I have brought down 
more than ten Boches! I did not require 
any encouragement, for I had made up my 
mind to succeed or die; but, as to loyalty, 
did I not need words of cheer rather at the 
beginning of my career? No, you see, glory 
is splendid, on condition that you are a 
statue, and yet ... at that very moment 
they pass by you without a glance and have 
no time to read what is inscribed upon the 
pedestal. Besides, which is the best known 
statue in all Paris, will you tell me? It is 
the Obelisk, and that was never a man." 

Guynemer's conversation was clever and 
youthfully delicious. When he spoke, the 
sincerity of his words was so plain that we 
dared not interrupt for fear of breaking 
the charm. He jumped from one subject to 
the other, and it was only after he had fin- 
ished talking about something that I re- 
minded him that he had branched off sud- 
denly. 



A MODEST HERO 149 

"But," said I, "you have not yet told me 
what you answered that fellow who asked 
you why you wore all of your decorations?" 

And now becoming very grave, assuming 
a serious air, with that deep look of his, he 
said: 

"What I answered him? This: I think 
that I earned the cross and the medals loy- 
ally. Those who awarded them to me 
wished to render homage to the success 
which my valor or luck, as you please, al- 
lowed me to attain. I am the French Ace 
of Aces, and foreign governments have rec- 
ognized me as such. I no longer belong to 
myself. Some may assert that I am merely 
a shop -window, but it is a window over which 
it would be rude on my part to draw down 
the curtain. It would be like the person 
to whom you give a beautiful jewel which 
he shuts up at the bottom of a drawer. I 
consider that acting as I do is an act of 
courtesy on my part towards those who have 



150 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

decorated me, as well as an act of justice to 
aviation itself. My breast on the one hand 
and my officer's uniform on the other will 
remind every passer-by that in the Fifth 
Arm there are not only coxcombs, always 
the same, walking up and down in Paris, 
flooding all kinds of bars with their pres- 
ence, with ridiculous uniforms and tunics 
free from any decoration. 

"I am the first to suffer the annoyances 
of publicity, but I maintain that I cannot 
do otherwise and that I am not less modest 
because I wear all my medals and my cross. 
You know that I have a horror of parade, 
you know my love for simplicity, you at 
least understand me, but how many there 
are who spread the report abroad that I 
am a swaggerer, puffed up with pride. I 
just let them talk, for it does not matter 
to me, and it will not affect either my mode 
of thought or of action. Moreover, you may 
be sure that, if they had as many medals. 



A MODEST HERO 151 

they are the very ones who would have a 
war-cross hanging far below the bar. 

"There is only one moment when I re- 
gretted at first this exhibition of medals, 
that was when I met a brave Poilu, one of 
those heroes of which there are so many, 
whom no one knows. They have suffered 
far more than we, they have suffered anxie- 
ties, emotions which we do not know how to 
comprehend, and they are very inadequately 
rewarded. I was afraid that they might 
say: 'Those aviators are lucky, everything 
is for them.' But, no, that was not their 
thought, and I took special note of the re- 
spectful way in which they saluted me. And 
that look they gave me was the sweetest, 
the most vibrant eulogy that I could re- 
ceive. You may be sure that they know 
how to recognize the aviator who reflects 
honor upon the profession — and the other 
kind. That is the reason that they feel not 
a bit jealous of those whom they have seen 



152 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

at work, collaborating with them and letting 
them see those beautiful tumbles of Boehes 
in flames." 

I can add but a word to these statements. 
I had written them down with the exactness 
of stenography. Those who knew the great 
hero may also testify to the same effect. 
That modesty, that sympathy for the Poilu, 
were two of the most characteristic traits 
of his admirable soul. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

VICTORIES OF THE NEW AEROPLANE 

After having eared for himself energeti- 
cally and rapidly, Guynemer hastened to 
leave the hospital. He was not yet per- 
fectly well, but one great reason impelled 
him to hurry: the Flanders offensive! He 
wanted to take part in it, all the more now 
that the machine of which he expected mar- 
vels, and which had already received its 
very violent baptism of fire, was ready, hav- 
ing been fully repaired. The two convales- 
cents — the pilot and his aeroplane — ^were to 
complete the cure by the aid of fresh air — 
murderous indeed for the Boches. 

It was by telephone that the Ace of Aces 
gave me the facts concerning these last suc- 
cesses. He wanted to tell me that he had 

153 



154 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

not been able to come into my office, be- 
cause he had to leave again that very eve- 
ning. The messfage should have lasted but 
a minute or two at most. Three-quarters of 
an hour later I still had the receiver at my 
ear and a mass of sheets of paper covered 
with notes in front of me ! When we talked 
aviation neither he nor I had the least idea 
of the lapse of time ! 

"You wrote in the Petit Parisien" said 
he, "that I got my fiftieth on the same day 
as my forty-ninth, but this is inexact. I 
brought them down twenty-four hours apart, 
at nine o'clock at night, and they fell in the 
same neighborhood. For the first time I 
found out what my aeroplane could do : my 
two adversaries were pulverized and scat- 
tered through space. 

"On July 27th I was with DeuUin. There 
is a man of whom you can never say enough 
as to his courage and skill. He is an ath- 
lete in the full meaning of that word, and 



VICTORIES OF NEW AEROPLANE 156 

I know few pilots who are finer and more 
adroit. You ought to write about him 
oftener, for he deserves it. He is not only 
a remarkable aviator, but he is a real soul, 
and this fact is sufficiently rare for us to 
point it out insistently in him!" 

I answered Captain Guynemer that I 
had been desirous of showing my readers 
the beauty of the career of Captain (then 
Lieutenant) DeuUin, for a long time, but I 
had been compelled to do so very timidly on 
various occasions, for I knew that it was 
very distasteful to him when he was taken 
up in the papers. 

"Oh, of course," replied the Ace of Aces, 
"he has a horror of publicity. He is exces- 
sively modest and many pilots who have not 
half as many victories to their credit are 
much better known." 

"But that parenthesis has deprived me of 
the story of your forty-ninth." 

"I was with Deullin when we encountered 



156 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

a 220 horse-power Albatros of the latest 
type, which soared over a patrol of eight 
other Boches. It had a most idiotic air. 
It seemed to say to its comrades: 'Don't 
bother yourself about anything, I am here.' 
And it gave itself such condescending airs 
towards these young chickens as if taking 
them to the hen-coop. At least these were 
the ideas that occurred to me about that 
Ace, sufficiently an Ace to be placed as 
leader of so important a troop of aeroplanes. 
I came up from the rear, approached to 
within a few meters. Boom! The result 
was immediate, the machine was cut in two 
and burst into flame, the wings on one side, 
the fuselage on the other. There was a gen- 
eral ' scatter ation' and the great swaggerer 
was finally burned to a cinder between 
Langemark and Roulers. 

"On the next day it was harder. There 
was some resistance on the part of my ad- 
versary, and I shall long remember my 




The debris of tJiree aeroplanes brought doiun by the Ace in 
one day, March 16, 1917. 




Guynemer ready for patrol. 



VICTORIES OF NEW AEROPLANE 157 

fiftieth! My opponent was certainly an 
Ace. After a first shell which missed the 
target, I made a turn so as to reload at my 
ease and then come back to the attack, when 
the Boche with great address and coolness 
took upon himself to attack as if he were 
going to come off victorious and received 
me with a volley which cut through a spar 
of my machine, damaged the rudder, the 
cowl and struck the exhaust pipe. My Spad 
was in evil case, but the first thing in my 
mind was vengeance. And really the man 
in front of me was a man and not a coward. 
Damn it, at moments like these a man must 
not allow himself to give way to sentimen- 
talism. I fired! My opponent, who had 
a D.F.W., crumpled up in flames, like the 
one of yesterday, almost at his side !" 

"But what about your fight with an Eng- 
lish pilot?" 

"How do you know anything about that 
story?" 



158 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"Isn't it my business to know all about 
every one of your fights? But they tell 
that story in so many different ways that 
I must know the real story from your own 
lips." 

"Oh, it was very simple! I had just come 
out of a mass of clouds when I saw an Eng- 
lish aeroplane some distance away. He 
came towards me and as soon as he was 
within range he bega,n firing. I turned and 
twisted every way to show him my tricolor 
markings, but he persisted. What was I to 
do? I had to make a very rapid decision. 
If I dived he would follow me and possibly 
bring me down. If I did not fire back he 
would certainly 'get' me. I must put him 
out of commission. I did not hesitate any 
longer. Most fortunately at that time I still 
had my machine-gun with me, and without 
it what would I have done? We were quite 
near our own lines, and by planing he could 
come down there, so I had to fire a few 



VICTORIES OF NEW AEROPLANE 169 

shots at his motor. I aimed — with what 
anguish of mind — pulled the trigger and 
waited. He had been hit and I saw him at 
once steer towards our lines. What luck 
that I had not killed him! I came down 
after him, and as he landed I alighted near 
him and made myself known to him. The 
poor boy had been hit by one bullet in the 
leg — a few weeks of vacation, nothing more 
— but I never saw a man more confused than 
he. He excused himself so sincerely and 
vociferously that towards the end I asked 
myself if it was not I that had a bullet in 
the leg. 

"He was a youthful pilot, who had just 
before brought down a Boche, a real one 
that time, and he was so happy that he 
wanted to bring down everything he saw in 
front of him, without stopping to think 
about the distinguishing marks. Other er- 
rors like this are possible at a certain dis- 
tance and several cases, more or less tragic 



160 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

have been recorded. It even happened to 
me one day, when I saw a group of aero- 
planes. I came up to them to protect them, 
for I thought that I had recognized them as 
French. But they were Boches. There I 
was, and I would not even pretend to re- 
treat. They were five and I fought with 
them and put them all to flight. 

"To finish with my adventure with my 
Englishman. It has been said that as a 
reward for my action they had given me the 
D.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order). This 
is absolutely stupid. I had received that 
high reward several days before this inci- 
dent. This report is spread by those kindly 
gentlemen who wish it to be believed that I 
have been decorated not for my fifty victo- 
ries, but for a mistake!" 



CHAPTER XXV 

NEVER AT THE REAR 

One question had interested me especially, 
for I have discussed it in La Ghierre 
Aerienne: 

"Now that you have your fifty Boches, 
don't you think that it is time for you to 
take a needed rest? You have shown what 
an Ace of Aces can do, but is it not impru- 
dent to tempt fortune indefinitely? Don't 
you think that if you took charge of a school 
for teaching the tactics of hunting by aero- 
plane that you would render greater service 
to France than by remaining on the front? 
Would not twenty under Guynemer bring 
down more victims than one Guynemer? 
After the very hard campaign through 
which you have passed during more than 

161 



162 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

two years, don't you think that a few months 
at the rear would do you a tremendous 
amount of good?" 

"My dear Mortane, never talk to me 
about going to the rear, if we are to remain 
good friends. I would never consent to 
take charge of a school. Besides, I would 
possibly be a very poor professor and I 
think that I can accomplish far more by 
example than by precept. The preceptors 
are not the payers. I want to pay my debt 
to France and to try to lengthen my list of 
successes incessantly. Look at Ball, whom 
we tried to send to a school. At the end of 
a few weeks he became frightfully home- 
sick for the front, and came back here. I 
am like him. And then, too, if the public 
hears nothing about me for some time they 
will say 'Guynemer? He has been caught 
at last !' Yes, at that moment they will for- 
get my fifty victories, and will know only 



NEVER AT THE REAR 163 

that others are fighting and that I am not 
with them. 

"I know very well that I shall end by 
staying there. They always say with reas- 
suring conviction, 'They all get theirs!' 
Don't you think that I have not thought of 
this? Don't you think that when I saw that 
poor Auger land on our soil to breathe his 
last in our arms after fighting with three 
Boches that this was not my first thought? 
But I have been waiting for this ever since 
my very first flight ! I am simply trying to 
postpone it to the very last moment and to 
avenge myself royally in advance before I 
fall. 

"There are some pilots whom you could 
never persuade to go to the rear, even to 
teach the students of our science. There 
was Dorme, who brought down one Boche 
a day, and he was certainly one who would 
not play such a passive part. 

"And then to be a professor — anybody 



164 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

can be one and they are often those who are 
least capable in the air, and yet can give 
the very best lessons. The proof of this is 
that hunting is taught the greater part of 
the time by those who have never really 
done any hunting themselves! 

"As for me, as long as I am able, I shall 
be at the front, to defend my title of Ace of 
Aces. What, now that I have received all 
of the finest rewards, when I have nothing 
more for which to hope, can I ask for a post 
of absolute rest? That would be cowardice, 
you see! I owe myself to my Country. I 
used the most varied stratagems to get into 
the Fifth Arm, for I was resolved to be an 
aviator. I have obtained a position which 
compels me to set an example. To leave 
the front would be nothing less than deser- 
tion. 

"And the Boches? They would be only 
too happy, and they would grant their 
Richthofen twenty victories more at one 



NEVER AT THE REAR 165 

time to show their joy! They would say 
that their Ace had frightened me and that I 
had asked to go to the rear. No, anything 
but that — I shall hold on to the bitter end." 

There was nothing to say by way of re- 
ply, no discussion was possible when he had 
made up his mind so resolutely. The high 
command tried to convince him, but in vain. 
The advice of friends was no more success- 
ful: one month later the great hero was no 
more ! 

At the conclusion of our telephone con- 
versation, I asked Guynemer: 

"As to Richthofen, I have had a project 
in my mind for some time. You know that 
they published the memoirs of Boelke, Im- 
melmann and Richthofen in Germany. 
Their aim was to exalt their Aces and to 
depreciate ours. It was with a view to mak- 
ing propaganda among the neutrals and 
to increase the enthusiasm for aviation 
among the Boches, that they were published. 



166 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

I really believe that it would be a very- 
patriotic move for you to publish your rec- 
ollections. What do you say to it?" 

"I understand your reasons very well," 
answered the Ace of Aces, "but I shall never 
do that work while the war lasts: even if 
the Government were to allow it, how could 
I get the time? Finally, even if these two 
conditions were met, I would not attempt 
it, because that very instant there would be 
a horde of people who would assert that I 
am pretentious and that I am posing." 

"Let the imbeciles talk. But you must 
consider the historic value of the recital of 
your victories related by yourself, and the 
story of all your emotions while fighting in 
the air." 

"That would be a fine affair! What 
could I add to what you know, for I have 
told you whatever you asked me to tell you." 

"Yes, but that is not the same thing, 



NEVER AT THE REAR 167 

'He' or *I'. Readers are much more deeply 
interested in a personal narrative." 

"Never mind all that! For your 'Boche 
Hunters' I have pointed out two or three 
corrections of facts which were not precisely 
exact; for your article in Je Sais Tout on 
my first thirty-six victories, my father helped 
you to complete the facts, and therefore if 
you wish you may make a study of me. I 
shall not stop you and am ready to furnish 
you with all the facts you may require, but 
when it comes to writing and signing myself, 
that I will not do." 

Then we discussed a series which was soon 
to appear in La Guerre Aerienne, Alas, 
brutal death intervened, and we could only 
consecrate a special issue to the hero. And 
in the chapter of the "Boche Hunters," 
which he had read over, I was compelled 
to add at the close the account of his disap- 
pearance. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE LAST FLIGHT 

This was the last conversation that I en- 
joyed with the Ace of Aces. A few days 
later he returned to the front. 

Once more the "Stork Squadron" was op- 
erating on the coast of Dunkirk. 

The magic aeroplane which had been 
damaged again had been fully repaired. On 

August 17th the Ace of Aces brought down 
an Albatros, which took fire, and a few in- 
stants afterwards a D.F.W. On the 18th 
he transformed a two-seater into a torch, but 
too far away for it to be made official. 
Then he was obliged to have his machine 
repaired and resumed action on his old 
Spad. 

On the 20th he achieved his fifty-third vic- 

168 




Guynemer and his faithful gunner, Guerder. 



THE LAST FLIGHT 169 

tory, the last official triumph, a D.F.W., 
which crashed to earth at Poperinghe. 
These four days' fighting had earned him 
three more victories. 

Here are the two citations dealing with 
his last successes: 

"An incomparable fighting pilot. On 
July 6th and 7th, 1917, he beat down his 
forty-sixth, forty-seventh and forty-eighth 
enemy aeroplanes." 

"On July 27th and 28th he brought down 
his forty-ninth and fiftieth enemy aeroplanes 
in flames; on August 17th he achieved his 
fifty-first and fifty- second victories." 

A few days after his fifty-third Boche, 
Guynemer took command of the Stork 
Squadron. Captain Heurtaux, who had 
come back to his post after Captain Auger, 
provisionally in command, had been killed, 
July 28th, was wounded again Septem- 
ber 3rd. 

Thus Captain Guynemer had the diffi- 



170 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

cult task entrusted to him of guiding the 
Storks to battle. The administrative work, 
the task of looking after everything and 
every one, did not stop the young leader 
from flying himself. He might have ab- 
stained, for his machine was still being re- 
paired. But it was not characteristic of 
him to rest, even when he had a very valid 
excuse. He took up again his Spad with two 
machine-guns. Unfortunately his weapons 
always refused to fire at the opportune mo- 
ment. The Ace of Aces flew from five to 
six hours each day, trying to overcome his 
bad luck. It was a hard time for him, but 
he would not give up. Like the skilled gam- 
bler who tries to win by continuing his bet- 
ting, he fought over and over again, but 
could not add a single one to his many vic- 
tories. On September 10th not only did his 
weapons give him trouble, but his motor took 
sides with the guns. A break-down com- 
pelled him to seek asylum with a Belgian 



THE LAST FLIGHT 171 

squadron. Quickly he made his repairs, de- 
parted and returning to his own aerodrome 
took flight once more upon another machine. 
He was hit in the course of an aerial duel, 
and had to come down again quickly. An- 
other flight, and more annoyances. His ill 
luck would not be conquered, to all appear- 
ances I 

On the next day, that he might triumph 
over that which would not yield, that he 
might try his luck to the very extremity, 
he appealed to death itself. 

On September 11th, 1917, notwithstand- 
ing the bad weather, Guynemer started 
upon a cruise with second Lieutenant Ver- 
duraz. After furrowing space for a long 
time without success, for atmospheric con- 
ditions kept the Boches on the earth, the 
two pilots at last saw a two-seater which ap- 
peared to be lost in the clouds. The hero 
darted forward, attacked, his gun missed 
fire. He manoeuvered for position again 



172 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

without even trying to dodge the answer- 
ing fire, so sure was he of himself in deal- 
ing with that young fry. What was a single 
two-seater to him? It was not even inter- 
esting. But above all did he wish to bring 
it down, to turn luck his way, and break the 
long series of no results. 

But what happened after that moment? 
Second Lieutenant Bozon Verduraz had 
gone towards other fights, with the convic- 
tion that his comrade would without a 
doubt, come out of the duel victorious, but 
he found nothing there when he came back. 

Guynemer, the hero of dreams, had van- 
ished in mystery. 

This was above Poelcapelle that the ca- 
reer of the most prodigious pilot of the war 
terminated, after he had added up 755 hours 
of aeroplane flight ! 

We hoped for a long time, even after it 
seemed that hope was no longer possible. 
The Boches were dumb, adding the refine- 



THE LAST FLIGHT 173 

merit of cruelty in not announcing their vic- 
tory. The censor forbade the announcement 
of Guynemer's disappearance, but the news 
was passed from mouth to mouth. We 
thought that possibly he had been able to 
land, that he had concealed himself and 
was trying to return to us. The most im- 
possible rumors were spread. No one could 
suppose that the great slayer of Boches 
could possibly have been subjected to the 
same lot which he had imposed upon more 
than a hundred of his enemies. Guynemer? 
Every one deemed him invulnerable ; no one 
had any idea that he could be killed. 

But many long days afterwards came the 
news from a German source. We could no 
longer doubt it. The Ace of Aces had been 
beaten down near the cemetery of Poelca- 
pelle. Two soldiers had been present at the 
place of the catastrophe. One wing of the 
Spad had been broken. The pilot lay there, 
killed, with a bullet in his head, and one leg 



174 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

broken. On him was found his commission, 
which made it possible to identify the body. 

The district in which Guynemer had 
ended his career in a burst of glory, where 
he had by one bound leaped to heaven, was 
being hammered by the English artillery. 
Attacks followed. Our allies looked for his 
grave in the cemetery of Poelcapelle when 
they took it. But they never succeeded in 
finding it. We learned later that on ac- 
count of the incessant danger the Germans 
had not been able to remove the remains to 
inter them. The soul of Guynemer in the 
Great Beyond had the supreme satisfaction 
of not seeing his body defiled by his enemy. 

Lieutenant Weisemann, who had com- 
mitted the sacrilege of defeating this di- 
vinity of space survived his success but a few 
days. 

On September 30th, 1917, he who had 
written to his parents : "Have no more fears 
about me, I have brought down Guynemer, 



THE LAST FLIGHT 176 

and I can never again meet so dangerous 
an adversary;" he who by one of those tricks 
of fate which brings death at the moment 
when it seems farthest away, this Boche, 
found himself face to face with Second Lieu- 
tenant Fonck in the clouds. He was upon a 
Rumpler of the latest type and was flying 
around a squadron of eight aeroplanes which 
it was his mission to protect. The combat 
took place at a height of 5,000 meters. Very 
soon Weisemann was hit and crumpled up, 
struck also by a bullet in the head. 

Guynemer was well avenged, and by that 
very one who, in his turn, has become the Ace 
of Aces, achieving the largest number of 
his latest successes while driving the magic 
aeroplane devised by that other greatest 
Ace, who will always remain such, even if 
the number of victories attained by him be 
exceeded by some one else. 

The shade of the hero seems to lead the 
destiny of his successor! 



176 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

The Boches, who cannot even show re- 
spect to the dead, revenged themselves upon 
him who had wiped out nine complete squad- 
rons officially and more than fourteen if we 
were to count all the probable victories 
gained far over their lines. In a monument 
of lying and shame, which should dishonor 
its author, they published in Die Woche of 
October 6th, 1917, with the reproduction 
of the pilot's commission and card, this opin- 
ion about him whom all venerate so piously : 

"Captain Guynemer enjoyed a great 
reputation in the French army, for he said 
that he had beaten down more than fifty 
aeroplanes. It is nevertheless proven that 
a large number of these returned to their 
aerodromes, damaged it is true. To render 
all German verification impossible, they 
have not indicated either the places or the 
dates of these pretended victories. Some 
French aviators taken prisoner have stated 
that his method was as follows: Sometimes, 



THE LAST FLIGHT 177 

as he flew as the leader of the squadron, he 
let his comrades attack first, and then threw 
himself upon the enemy picked out as easi- 
est ; sometimes he flew alone at a great height 
for hours, back of the French lines, and then 
threw himself suddenly upon isolated Ger- 
man observation aeroplanes. If his first 
attack was not successful, Guynemer aban- 
doned the fight at once. He refused to take 
part in long duels where it is necessary to 
give proof of courage." 

We would not even try to refute such 
calumnies. We read them the better to 
abhor the Boche and simply shrug our 
shoulders. 

We began these Recollections of Guyne- 
mer with that admirable chronicle devoted 
to him by M. Georges Clemenceau. Let us 
conclude them with equal beauty and piety: 

"Captain Guynemer, commander of 
Squadron No. 3, died on the field of honor 



178 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

September 11th, 1917. A hero of legendary 
power, he fell in the wide heaven of glory, 
after three years of hard fighting. He will 
long remain the purest symbol of the quali- 
ties of the race : indomitable in tenacity, en- 
thusiastic in energy, sublime in courage. 
Animated with inextinguishable faith in 
victory, he bequeathes to the French sol- 
dier the imperishable remembrance which 
will exalt the spirit of sacrifice and the most 
noble emulation." 

Such was the twenty-sixth and last cita- 
tion, as it stands at the Pantheon, "The in- 
scription destined to perpetuate the mem- 
ory of Capain Guynemer, the symbol of the 
aspirations and enthusiasms of the Nation," 
according to the resolution voted unani- 
mously by the Chamber of Deputies. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES WON BY GUYNE- 

MER AS TOLD BY HIMSELF IN HIS 

NOTE-BOOKS OF FLIGHT 

RiCHTHOFEN, notwithstanding his eighty 
victories as counted by the WoliF Agency, 
will never leave a name in history com- 
parable to that of the two great heroes who 
preceded him in death : Captains Guynemer 
and Ball. The German was perhaps an 
able fighter, but by exaggerating his suc- 
cess unduly the enemy announcements have 
prevented us from considering him seriously, 
while as to his English and French rivals 
one thing is certain, that the total allowed 
to each is rather below than above the reality. 
Not to run the risk of error, it may be stated 
that Guynemer and Ball brought down at 

179 



180 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

least a third more victims than their records 
show. 

We have the good fortune, thanks to the 
kindness of the father of the Ace of Aces, to 
be able to offer some most interesting and 
authentic documents. They constitute a 
recital of the fifty-three victories gained by 
Guynemer, according to his own note-books 
of flight. 

The first lines of the first volume of these 
notes by Guynemer are as follows : 

January 27, 1915 — Snow-duty. 
28, " — 



cc 



29, 


" — Meeting and Snow- 




duty. 


30, 


" — ^Extra-duty at Bleriot 




aerodrome. 


31, 


" — Extra duty at Bleriot 




aerodrome. 



These five days, to tell the truth, give no 
evidence that the student-pilot would be- 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 181 

come the most glorious of all. It was not 
until February 1st that he went out for the 
first time on a rolling Bleriot, for ten min- 
utes. Then his training became more aerial, 
and with a record of 90.05 hours of active 
flying, Corporal Guynemer made his ap- 
pearance, June 9th, 1915, at the headquar- 
ters of the Stork Squadron, to which he had 
been attached. He had mastered all the 
tricks of aerial achievement, and was in- 
spired by a will which nothing could change. 
His girlish air made some think of him as 
a bit spoiled. He did not want to be so con- 
sidered, but wished to prove himself a man. 
Very soon he showed himself heroic. 

In the beginning he did a Httle of every- 
thing: scouting, signaling to the artillery, 
special missions (two as a volunteer: in this 
kind of work, two leave on the aeroplane, 
which lands at some appointed spot in the 
enemy lines, and the pilot returns alone), 
even bombardments and pursuits without 



182 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

results. At this time the squadrons were 
expected to render any and all kinds of 
service^ ' 

It was on July 19th, 1915, that Guynemer 
achieved his first victory. Here is how he 
tells about it : 

"Left with Guerder after a Boche sig- 
naled as being over Coeuvres, catching up 
with him over Pierref onds : fired one belt of 
cartridges, gun jammed, then got to work- 
ing again. The Boche fled and landed near 
Laon. At Coucy we made a semi-circle and 
saw an Aviatik, at 3,200 meters, flying to- 
wards Soissons. We followed him, and 
when he was over our lines we dived and 
placed ourselves some fifty meters below 
him, to the rear and left. At the first vol- 
ley the Aviatik lurched and we saw the flash 
of his fire. He was coming back at us with 
a rifle, and planted one bullet in a wing, and 
another bullet grazed Guerder's hand and 
head. At my last volley the pilot sank back 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 183 

in the fuselage, the observer raised his arms 
and the Aviatik fell like a plummet, in 
flames, between the trenches. We landed 
at Sarriere I'Eveque. The Boches attacked 
us with their cannon. While taking the ma- 
chine further I broke the propeller on a 
hay-stack. Left at two o'clock for Vau- 
ciennes, Vedrines piloting the aeroplane. 
Two hours twenty-five minutes of flight, 
3,700 meters altitude, ten minutes fighting 
at a distance of from twenty to fifty meters." 

Encouraged by this success, which earned 
him the Military Medal, Guynemer went 
after more victims, but was not very fortu- 
nate for several months. It is true that 
the enemy aeroplanes were harder to find 
than to-day, and the guns jammed so fre- 
quently that you were never certain of not 
being made a prisoner together with your 
machine-gun. 

It was between his first and second Boche 
victories that the young champion per- 



184 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

formed his two special missions, the second 
under especially dramatic conditions. He 
notes them thus in his memorandum: 

"September 18th, 1915. — Special recon- 
naissance with Adjutant Hatin, Peronne, 
Busigny, la Capelle, Vervins, Laon, putting 
in at Pierrefonds. Two hours, forty min- 
utes, 3,100 meters." 

"October 1st, 1915. — Special mission. 
Two hours, forty-five minutes, 3,700 me- 
ters." Not a word more, which shows the 
artlessness of this youth who, after experi- 
encing so many varied emotions, might have 
written a few lines, giving his impressions. 
No, he never thought about the dangers en- 
dured, he was only thinking about the suc- 
cess which was to come. 

He carried out several bombardments, 
one of which was important in results: 
^"October 2nd, 1915.— Bombarded the 
railway station of Noyon from a single- 
seated Morane-Saulnier. Dropped nine 75 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 185 

bombs. Noted a very heavy explosion in 
the hangars situated on the northeastern 
side of the road. Made two attacks upon a 
Boche aeroplane, but he fled each time at 
the first shot from my gun. One hour, thirty 
minutes, 3,100 meters." 

The next day he carried out two bombard- 
ments, both upon the railway of Chauny; 
one at 2:15, at 3,200 meters, the other at 
2:30 at the same altitude. 

And now comes a fight in which, to avoid 
the fire of his adversary, he placed his ma- 
chine just below him until he could get his 
gun to work again. 

"November 6th, 1915. — Protection of 
reconnoitering. At Chaulnes attacked a 
L.V.G., 150 horsepower. My machine-gun 
jammed (percussion spring twisted) . Tried 
to fire at a distance of forty meters, from the 
side, then at two meters, underneath. In 
turning to withdraw I swept the right wing 
of the Boche machine. Result: a bit of my 



186 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

sail torn off, one ball over my head in the 
upper plane. One hour, 3,500 meters." 

Another fight in which his weapon co- 
operated with enemy. 

"November 28th, 1915. — ^A hunting cir- 
cuit. Attacked a Boche (at 2,000 meters), 
who defended himself with a machine-gun. 
My gun jammed four or five times. The 
Boche dived some 500 meters. After re- 
loading, attacked again. Jammed twice, 
the last absolute, an ejector giving way. 
Seven or eight shots at a distance of fifty to 
one hundred meters. Fired sixty times. 
Landed at Moreuil. One hour, 2,500 
meters." 

At last comes his second victory: 

"December 5th, 1915. — Circled the Com- 
piegne district. Saw two aeroplanes at 
3,200 meters, towards Chauny. I attacked 
the uppermost at the moment when he was 
over Bailly. I fired fifteen shots at a dis- 
tance of fifty meters. The Boche fired 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 187 

twice, but I got below and fired thirty shots 
at a distance of twenty meters. The Boche 
went into a tail-spin and fell at 900 meters 
to the north of Bailly, opposite Bois Carre. 
Landed at Compiegne. One hour, thirty 
minutes, 3,200 meters." 

He did not have long to wait for his third 
success : 

"December 8th, 1915. — Scouting over the 
strategic line Roys-Nesle. When coming 
down saw a German aeroplane high up and 
far from his own lines. At the moment he 
passed the lines at Beuvraigne I cut off his 
retreat and pursued him. I caught up with 
him in five minutes and fired forty-seven 
shots from my Lewis at a distance of twenty 
meters, from the rear and below. The 
enemy aeroplane, a L.V.G. of 165 horse- 
power probably, dived, took fire, turned over 
and planing fell on its back at Beuvraigne, 
carried westward by the wind. The pas- 
senger fell at Bus, the pilot at Tilloloy. 



188 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Landing at Grovillers (47th Company). 
Two hours, fifteen minutes, 3,200 meters." 

Guynemer now enjoyed a series of tri- 
umphs: on the fourteenth he achieved an- 
other victory, making three in seven days, at 
a time when aviators found it rather difficult 
to get their prey. 

"December 14th, 1915. — Accompanied 
the V.B. 108 to the bombardment of 
Hervilly. Attacked two Fokkers. One 
fell in a tail-spin after receiving Bucquet's 
fire and mine at point-blank range. Fought 
the second: one rocker-arm shot away, one 
pipe smashed, one bullet in the propeller, 
one in the right wheel, one in the fuselage 
cutting a cable, one in the rudder. One 
hour, fifty-five minutes, 3,000 meters." 

It was on February 3rd, 1916, that he got 
his fifth Boche, and at the same time passed 
on to his sixth. His first "Double" was ob- 
tained under remarkable conditions: 

"February 3rd, 1916. — Scouting over the 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 189 

Roye-Chaulnes district. At 11:10 I at- 
tacked a L.V.G., which came back at me 
with its machine-gun. Fired forty-seven 
shots at a distance of 100 meters. The 
enemy aeroplane dived very sharply over 
its lines, smoking fiercely. Lost sight of it 
five hundred meters from the ground. At 
11:40 attacked a L.V.G. (with a Parabel- 
lum) from the rear at twenty meters. He 
twisted and turned in spirals, pursued him 
at point-blank range to 1,300 meters (fell 
three kilometers from our lines). I fol- 
lowed him until I lost sight of him. (This 
aeroplane had the usual yellow-tinted wings, 
the fuselage painted blue like the Nieuport 
and presented the profile of a single hull. ) 

"At 11 :50 attacked a L.V.G., which dived 
into the clouds at once, where it disappeared. 
Landing at Amiens. Two hours, thirty 
minutes." 

Two of these three successes were cred- 



190 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

ited officially to Guynemer, the three nec- 
essary witnesses testifying. 

On the second day afterwards came an- 
other victory, the seventh : 

"February 5th, 1916. — On the circuit 
of district Roye-Chaulnes. Attacked a 
L.V.G. before Frise at the moment that it 
was going back over its lines. Coming up 
to him head on, I shot upward. Fired forty- 
five shots at a distance of twenty meters, 
after getting to the rear. The Boche 
lurched and dived vertically, giving forth a 
heavy black smoke (fight witnessed by Be- 
noit of C-4). The Boche fell in flames be- 
tween Assevillers and Herbecourt (seen by 
an anti-aircraft battery and by a group of 
artillerists commanded by Miribel) . Landed 
at Moreuil. Two hours, thirty-five minutes, 
3,300 meters." 

Here are the words set down by the Ace 
in his note-book, telling the story of two 
hard duels: 



THE FIFTY-THREE VICTORIES 191 

"March 6th, 1916.— Circuit of Ressons 
district. Attacked a L.V.G. Several 
shots at a distance of thirty meters, seven 
bullets in the machine, piping cut, left upper 
spar hit. The Boche was able to get back. 
Landed at Estrees. Observer: One lieu- 
tenant from Pressange. One hour, thirty 
minutes, 3,300 meters." 

As to the eighth victory, it is told with no 
more details: 

'^March 12th, 1916.— On circuit Chaulnes- 
Lassigny. Saw cannon shots over Com- 
piegne, cut off retreat of Boche (L.V.G.) . 
He opened fire at 100 meters. I fired at 
fifteen meters, three jammings (an Ameri- 
can belt of cartridges) at ten meters, fired 
thirty shots. L.V.G. went down vertically, 
on fire, and fell in front of Thiescourt, 1,000 
meters from our lines. I landed near the 
front, then at Estrees, then at Breuil. One 
hour, forty-five minutes, 3,400 meters." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

BJECORD AT VERDUN 

Second Lieutenant Guynemer was 
now called to the Verdun front, where the 
battle raged and where it was necessary for 
the supremacy of the air which had been 
taken by the enemy to be secured for us most 
absolutely. 

But just the day after he reached there, 
on the fatal 13th, the Ace was wounded for 
the first time: 

"March 13th, 1916.— Verdun circuit, at- 
tacked a group of four L.V.G.'s, fired at 
sixty meters and missed. Supply of gas at 
Vadelaincourt. Two hours, thirty minutes, 
3,200 meters." 

Flew after a Boche squadron signaled as 
being near Revigny. Saw nothing. Cir- 

192 




■^ 

R 

« 



^ 






1-»H fe 



■^ ^ 



■^ 



.05 






RECORD AT VERDUN 196 

cuit in region of Argonne. Attacked a 
L.V.G. Came up to within twenty meters 
on the side without having been seen. 
Turned to get below and was swept past by 
the speed of my machine; dived to reload. 
A quarter of an hour later attacked two 
Boches coming straight towards me. Came 
up with the first one of three-quarters of an 
hour before. Fired at ten meters distance, 
looping to get below him. At that moment 
he also fired. The back, upper spar on the 
right cut in two, cable cut, right front stand- 
ard of cabane cut (two blows in my face), 
wind-shield smashed, several bullets in the 
planes and two bullets in my left arm. I 
dived sharply, the second Boche firing and 
missing me. Good landing at Brocourt. 
During this second circuit a N.1104! with a 
turret appeared to fire down upon me at 
sixty meters, a few shots with my Lewis, and 
he dived towards his landing-place without 



194 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

my being able to read his number. Two 
hours, 3,000 meters." 

The wounded man was sent on furlough 
to Paris on the next day, where he was cared 
for in the Japanese ambulance. As soon as 
he could get out he wanted to fly again. On 
April 26th he made the trip from Issy-les- 
Moulineaux to B or get and return in thirty 
minutes on a thirteen meter Nieuport. His 
wounds did not prevent him from flying and 
he did not wish to lose training. It was May 
19th that he again took his place in the 
squadron. He obtained a few probable 
victories, continued to add to his hours of 
flight to enjoy the health-giving air, but did 
not secure his ninth official victory until 
towards the end of June: 

"June 22nd, 1916. — On the Peronne- 
Roye circuit. Saw a Fokker over his lines. 
Two hours, twenty-five minutes, 3,300 me- 
ters. 

"Peronne-Roye circuit. Attacked a 



RECORD AT VERDUN 195 

double-fuselage machine at ten meters dis- 
tance. Machine gun would not fire. Got it 
working again. Dived behind him and 
made him go back to his lines. Attacked 
two aeroplanes over Villers-Bretonneux, set 
one on fire at the same time that Chainat 
did. Two hours, forty minutes, 4,200 
meters. 

"Chaulnes-Peronne-Roye circuit. A two- 
seater which hastened back home. Three 
hours, thirty minutes, 4,200 meters." 

Thus on this single day Guynemer had 
made three cruises: eight hours, thirty-five 
minutes of flying. It may well be said that 
when he met a Boche it was because he was 
looking for him. The one which he had 
felled crashed to earth in our lines, near 
Rosieres en Santerre. 

On the next day he came back from his 
rounds with two spars cut as the result of a 
duel with a L.V.G. Then he started again 



196 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

on another machine. On that day he re- 
mained in the air B.ve hours. 

Another encounter which was so hard that 
the Frenchman had to render homage to his 
adversary: 

''July 6th, 1916.— Scouting. Saw a 
Boche twenty meters away as he came out of 
a cloud. No time to fire. Two hours, twen- 
ty minutes, 2,800 meters. 

"Peronne circuit. Shot at by cannon. 
One shell hit a spar. About 6:20 saw a 
L.V.G. over the Somme at 1,800 meters. 
He went back almost to his own landing 
place. At about 6.50 surprised by a L.V.G. 
firing through the propeller. Engaged in 
combat. I went down to reload and saw 
the Boche dive down upon a Maurice Far- 
man. Coming back to the attack I turned 
the Boche, engaged him: two cables of his 
right cellule cut clean, pierced his propel- 
ler. Landing near Chuiques. Boche snap- 



RECORD AT VERDUN 197 

pish, but manageable. Two hours, thirty 
minutes, 3,200 meters." 

So every day, every flight meant combats. 
The number of Boches never seemed to stop 
the conqueror of space. See what occurred 
later : 

"July 10th, 1916.— Fight of three against 
seven. Rescued DeuUin (became a Captain, 
Ace with twenty victories) who was pur-, 
sued by an Aviatik at 100 meters. One 
hour, twenty minutes, 3,600 meters. 

"July 11th, 1916.— Attacked a L.V.G. 
over Flaucourt at ten meters. Jamming. 
Explosion on board the Boche. His left 
elevating cable cut. Dived, but seemed to 
regain control. Forty-five minutes, 2,500 
meters. 

"Circuit Peronne-the Somme. Attacked 
an Aviatik near Saint Christ, then a L.V.G. 
who took me from the rear, fired three- 
fourths of my belt at between five and six 
meters. A luminous bullet went through 



198 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

the fuselage. At that moment Lieutenant 
Deullin fired a belt of cartridges from very 
close up, and beat down the L.V.G. At- 
tacked seven Boches to the northeast of 
Peronne. Bad jamming at first shot. Two 
hours, 2,600 meters." 

He had collaborated with Lieutenant 
Deullin, but would not accept credit for this 
one himself. He had scored an almost cer- 
tain victory that morning, but it was not 
sure enough to be counted. He ended the 
day by attacking seven Boches. This was 
Guynemer. He could not expend his great 
fighting soul in any day's work. 

On the fifteenth he brought down his 
tenth Boche. 

"July 15th, 1916. — On Somme circuit. 
Brought down a L.V.G. (the wheels in the 
air), at the same time with Heurtaux (who 
became Captain after twenty-one victories, 
having been severely wounded twice) . Fifty 
minutes, 1,800 meters." 



RECORD AT VERDUN 199 

Three days later he was working with the 
English aviators. 

"July 18th, 1916.— Somme circuit. Fol- 
lowed three L.V.G.'s for an hour and a 
quarter along the Somme. Fought these 
three L.V.G.'s and some Aviatiks with some 
Havilands. 'Peppered' one of them to res- 
cue an Englishman, then an L.V.G. Two 
hours, thirty minutes, 3,500 meters." 

The hero's enthusiasm never subsided for 
an instant. His flying note-book is the most 
complete proof of what energy and courage, 
directed by an iron will and an implacable 
desire to conquer, can accomplish: 

*'July 27th, 1916. — Scouting along the 
army-front. Fight with a group of three 
L.V.G.'s at 150 meters north of Peronne 
without result. One hour, fifty-five min- 
utes." 

"On the circuit of the army-front. — ^At- 
tacked between 1,100 and 4,000 meters sev- 
eral groups of from three to ten machines, 



wo GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

some of them with two motors, and three 
seats. Surprised a double-motor pursuing a 
Nieuport, which made a half-turn. At- 
tacked from the front at from 400 to eighty 
meters a double-motor pursuing an Eng- 
lishman. The Boche tried to fire back, but 
dived before he could shoot and was then 
pursued by Heurtaux. He dived once more 
without firing, seemed seriously wounded, 
especially the passengers. Fight ended in 
the Combles district. Two hours, fifteen 
minutes." 

On the next day, a day of victory: 

"July 28th, 1916. — Scouting along army- 
front. Attacked a group of four enemy 
aeroplanes and forced one of them to the 
earth. Attacked a second group of four 
aeroplanes which scattered at once. Selected 
one of the hunting aeroplanes and fired 
about 250 shots at him. The Boche dived 
sharply, seeming hit. Machine smashed. 



RECORD AT VERDUN 201 

Confirmation by English headquarters. 
At the last shots fired by the Wickers, a 
blade of my propeller was shattered by the 
bullets. The unbalanced motor struck its 
own machine, breaking it badly. Landed by 
volplaning at aerodrome of Chepilly, with- 
out accident. One hour, forty-five min- 
utes." 

This eleventh victory earned him his tenth 
citation with which Guynemer closed the 
first of his note-books. It sums up thus: 

Hours of J Apprenticeship 90 hours, 5 minutes 

Flight [At the Front 348 hours, 25 minutes 

438 hours 30 minutes 
Aeroplanes brought down, eleven 



CHAPTER XXIX 

FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 

The second note-book presents a differ- 
ent aspect from the preceding. The Ace is 
a man of action who detests writing. He 
is annoyed at having to keep account of his 
flights. He entrusts this task to a secretary 
in the office and often forgets to mention 
some combats. He is intent upon bring- 
ing down Boches, and considers these vic- 
tories as only a part of the current day's 
work, so the facts are given even less fully 
than before. 

The month of August from the 3rd to the 
17th is not very favorable. The Ace is con- 
stantly in trouble with his machine-gun. 
Just for a change, on August 6th, he goes 
after captive balloons. He attacks two, 

202 



FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 203 

one of them three times, the other twice, 
and forces both down. "Was violently can- 
nonaded," is all he reports. On the next 
day he flew for more than six hours, but does 
not set down the length of his second cruise. 

"August 7th, 1916. — Scouting along 
army-front; saw two aeroplanes of the 
Boches over their lines Gye or six kilometers 
from Lassigny. Two hours. 

"Army- front circuit, attacked four enemy 
machines, cutting out one, but my machine- 
gun would not fire. I made a half -turn, re- 
ceived seven fragments of shells, one in the 
gas-throttle, another in my union-suit. 

"Made the round to Cachy Chepilly and 
from Chepilly to Cachy. Attacked the Ger- 
man trenches to north of Clery in company 
of Lieutenant Heurtaux. I fired at the 
emplacement of several machine-guns. Af- 
ter 120 shots, gun janmied, breech broke. 
Two hours, ten minutes. 

"Just a trial flight." 



204 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

That was a pretty busy day, but it added 
nothing to his list. On the twelfth, fresh 
difficulties : 

''August 12th, 1916. — ^Army-front cir- 
cuit. With Lieutenant Deullin attacked a 
group of three Boche aeroplanes, two of 
which were the so-called 'Bananas' and one 
an Aviatik. Deullin, whose gun jammed, 
had to withdraw from the fight. Second- 
Lieutenant Guynemer continued the fight. 
Four jammings in the first twenty-five cart- 
ridges, then it fired normally. Two hours, 
fifteen minutes." 

The secretary, who had the honor of filling 
out the hero's note-book, starts in the first 
person and ends — either from admiration or 
timidity in writing 'I' — ^by writing down: 
"Second Lieutenant Guynemer." 

"August 16th, 1916. — Peronne district 
circuit. With Lieutenant Heurtaux, saw a 
machine of Nieuport type, without the black 
cross, low over their lines. We attacked 




His eighth 'victory. 



Jh 













AOK; 1««(«*I<L, 



,^U^ 



M >*)J*^. 






. is»^iii»^_-if 'i^i«, ;£ 



uWs: 






4!., 






II 



Laj/ />«^^ 0/ Guynemer's flight-book, telling of 
his disappearance. 



FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 205 

two Boches over Peronne at 2,000 meters. 
The one shot at by Heurtaux dived and had 
to land. The second abandoned the fight. 
I could not follow, my gun janmiing when 
I was at point-blank distance. Two hours, 
thirty minutes. 

"Bapaume-Peronne circuit. — Saw five 
Boche planes in the direction of Bapaume 
and several others on the ground within their 
lines. Two hours." 

But against the strong will of Guyne- 
mer even bad luck had to declare itself 
beaten. On the 17th he gained his thirteenth 
victory and on the 18th his fourteenth: 

"August 17th, 1916. — Army-front circuit. 
I surprised a Boche and fired at him from a 
distance of five meters. Two jammings in 
three shots. The observer was killed and the 
aeroplane dived sharply, giving forth a 
heavy black smoke from beneath the pilot's 
seat. Then attacked two L.V.G.'s over 
Montauban, three jammings out of ten shots. 



S06 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Nothing to report. Two hours, five min- 
utes." 

This victory embellished by many jam- 
mings, followed by the words, "nothing to 
report," forces us to consider the extraor- 
dinary mentality of our hero. To him there 
was "nothing to report" when he had brought 
down a Boche, although his gun had been 
most contrary. Those are the risks of war 
which every fighter has to expect: "nothing 
to report." They must be met calmly, with- 
out anger, without regrets, without pride, 
without joy: "nothing to report." 

"August 18th, 1916. — Army-front circuit. 
I attacked a Rumpler, protected by an 
Aviatik, some 2,000 meters north of the 
Somme. Fired two shots at 200 meters, 
pilot probably killed, machine went down in 
a tail-spin and crashed to the earth on the 
western border of Bois-Madame. The 
Aviatik fled. Jamming after two shots." 

This is one of the fights in which Guyne- 



FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 207 

mer showed most clearly his incredible skill. 
With two bullets fired at 200 meters going 
at a speed of about 200 kilometers an hour 
against a machine traveling 180 kilometers 
an hour, he succeeded in killing the pilot and 
bringing down his adversary. Ah, his ma- 
chine-gun would not work for him, all the 
better, the bullets that do travel are enough 
for him to conquer! 

On the 20th some aeroplanes were "prob- 
ably" brought down, but they are not made 
official. 

"August 20th, 1916. — Army-front circuit. 
I surprised a German plane over Bois- 
Madame at 1,400 meters, fired down at him 
as I passed at a distance of fifteen meters, 
saw the observer seated in his place. The 
aeroplane dived suddenly. Immediately af- 
terwards attacked a second German plane 
which dived. Two hours, five minutes. 

"Army-front circuit. Saw a group of four 
L.V.G.'s in the Montauban district. I at- 



208 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

tacked an Aviatik, taking him by surprise, 
at 7:30, 2,000 meters over the Somme. 
Fired twenty shots. As I passed at a half 
a meter saw that the passenger appeared to 
be wounded. The machine seemed out of 
control and fell to the ground. About 7 :35 
attacked an L.V.G., firing point-blank at 25 
meters, received several bullets in the motor, 
tank, cartridge-case, contusions on the in- 
dex finger of the left hand. Landed near 
Flaucourt in a shell-crater. Two hours." 

To be certain of the result of his fire, 
Guynemer had come back over his opponent 
who seemed in a bad way, so as to judge of 
the situation. He passed only half a meter 
away, to see the effect of his attack. The 
attack of which he was the victim kept him 
on the ground only five days. He began to 
work again on the 26th. 

On September 4th, his fifteenth victory. 

"September 4th, 1916. — Hunting over 
Chaulnes-Peronne. I attacked a Boche to- 



FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 209 

wards Brie. I dived. I attacked four 
Rumplers accompanied by a L.V.G. and 
an Aviatik. I brought down one of them 
near Hyencourt." 

Here are fights every day, two or three 
a day at least. And there are also some 
credits missing to him. 

"September 9th, 1916. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. I attacked two Boches at 100 meters 
over Herbecourt. One dived suddenly to- 
wards Peronne. Pursued him from 4,800 to 
2,000 meters. A bullet pierced two of my 
spars. One hour, forty-five minutes. 

On hunting rounds. At 6:30 p.m. I at- 
tacked a L.V.G., killed the passenger, then 
fired 250 shots at from 150 to 20 meters. 
The Boche dived suddenly towards the 
Somme. One hour, forty minutes, 1,600 
meters." 

"September 14th, 1916. — On my rounds. 
Attacked three Rumplers over Chaulnes at 
5,100 meters and another Rumpler at 5,200 



210 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

meters. I barred a Rumpler from our lines 
for twenty minutes at 5,300 meters. Wind 
N-W from 35 to 500 meters. Two hours, 
thirty minutes, 5,300 meters. 

"Hunting. Attacked a Boche point 
blank. Jammed by a defective cartridge. 
One hour, thirty-five minutes." 

Read the account of this day and consider 
the amount of energy and self-control re- 
quired for four hours and five minutes fly- 
ing. When we recollect that Guynemer was 
tall, thin, puny (they called him "fil de fer," 
"ram -rod," when he was studying as a me- 
chanic at Pau) , that his weight caused his 
rejection five times when he applied, we are 
compelled to think that the breathing of the 
air at high altitudes is a wonderful remedy, 
or — and I think that this is more nearly true 
— that the Ace of Aces was a phenomenon 
of heroic will: 

"September 15th, 1916.— On the hunt. I 
attacked a Boche at 1,800 meters over Bar- 



FROM NOTE-BOOK, VOLUME II 211 

leux. Jammed at the second shot at point 
blank distance. Attacked two others at 
5,200; another, a Rumpler, at 5,200 over 
Saint Cren. The planes broke after a fall 
of 1,000 meters. He crashed down near 
Saint Christ. One hour, forty-five minutes, 
5,200 meters. 

"Hunting. Attacked a hunting Aviatik, 
fired twenty shots while facing it. Attacked 
three Boches, firing at one of them from 
close range. He fired back (one bullet in 
my left wing) . Attacked an Albatros, fir- 
ing at ten meters. Killed the passenger. 
The machine seemed out of control, but re- 
gained the level after several futile at- 
tempts. Two hours, twenty minutes." 

During this day Guynemer had taken 
part in six combats, brought down his six- 
teenth enemy and killed an observer, whose 
aeroplane fell out of control. 



CHAPTER XXX 

SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 

On the 22nd Guynemer did even better jin 
the course of a cruise lasting two hours and a 
quarter: 

"September 22nd, 1916.— Hunting. 

"September 22nd, 1916. — I attacked four 
L.V.G.'s over Misery. 

"September 22nd, 1916.— I attacked 
eight L.V.G.'s over Chaulnes. 

"September 22nd, 1916.— I attacked 
twice eight L.V.G.'s over Roye. 

"September 22nd, 1916.— I attacked 
eight L.V.G.'s over Chaulnes. 

"September 22nd, 1916. — I attacked two 
Albatroses over Chaulnes. 

"Six fights, two hours, fifteen minutes. 

"Hunting. I was attacked twice by an 



SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 213 

11-4 (aeroplane with a French marking) . I 
attacked a single-seated Fokker biplane 
(tricolor rudder) which was firing at a 
Maurice Farman. I fired twice at a dis- 
tance of between two and ten meters. The 
Boche fell out of control, but seemed to re- 
gain the level before landing. Over Bar- 
leux attacked a Boche who dived. One 
hour, forty-five minutes, 3,000 meters." 

It is interesting to note once more the 
various tricks of the Huns, who do not hesi- 
tate to paint the rudders of some of their 
planes with the colors of the Allies in order 
to deceive our hunters. So great a display 
of courage must certainly gain its reward. 
Guynemer secured his the next day, but 
nearly paid for it with his life. Here are 
his notes: 

"September 23rd, 1916.— Hunting. Two 
fights at Eterpigny. At 11:20 brought 
down a Boche on fire, near Eochis; at 11 :25 
made a Boche land out of control near Car- 



214 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

repuy; at 11:30 was brought down myself, 
canvas coming off. I smashed my machine 
near Fescamps. Bruises (one bullet in a 
spar). One hour, fifteen minutes, 3,000 
meters." 

Guynemer went on furlough for a few 
days, coming back to take his place at the 
front on October 5th. By the 9th he 
achieved a "probable" success: 

"October 9th, 1916.— Hunting. At- 
tacked a Boche at a distance of less than 
fifty meters, near Berny. He dived ver- 
tically." 

On the 16th he shows his dissatisfaction 
at the close of the recital of the day's do- 
ings, all on account of his machine-gun: 

"October 16th, 1916.— On the hunt. I 
attacked four Boches, jammed. I attacked 
a very rapid camouflaged single-seater. He 
could not fire a shot. I fired shot by shot, 
but succeeded in making the Boche dive 
sharply for home. Refused several fights. 



SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 215 

on account of the machine-gun. Two hours, 
ten minutes, 4,800 meters." 

More annoyances during succeeding days, 
but nevertheless no one was more keen, no 
one took so much pains, no one passed 
more time in the air. And how many 
Boches might have been brought down, 
whom he had at his mercy! 

On October 17th he found that he had to 
decline a battle against too strong a force, 
and this was on account of his gun again: 

"October 17th, 1916.— Hunting. At- 
tacked five single-seaters. In the begin- 
ning had to fire shot by shot. At the end 
fired normally. The five Boches dived over 
their lines. Attacked a two-seater. At this 
moment, surprised by four or five single- 
seaters, was obliged to dive (four bullets in 
the machine). Fifty minutes." 

And on the 20th the gun jammed at 8 :45, 
just when the passenger in an opposing 
plane had been probably killed; another 



216 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

jamming at 8:55 when a Boche attacked 
from the rear at a distance of ten meters 
dived vertically, the passenger again prob- 
ably killed; in the afternoon another jam- 
ming when a single-seated Holland had been 
fired upon from a distance of four meters, 
above our lines. The same thing next day: 
"Attacked a single-seater over Barleux, 
fired one shot, the Boche dived. Attacked 
a single-seater over Barleux. Janmaed." 

The beginning of November was no more 
fortunate, but nevertheless, on the third, a 
probable success was reported: 

"November 2nd, 1916. — Hunting. At- 
tacked at less than ten meters. Fired one 
shot at a two-seater, jammed. Then fired 
ten shots, jammed, while the Boche dived 
over Bouchavennes. Over Peronne I at- 
tacked three other Boches who dived, and a 
Walfisch, which defended itself. One hour, 
fifty minutes, 4,000 meters. 

"November 3rd, 1916. — Hunting. Sur- 



SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 217 

prised an Aviatik at ten meters, killing the 
observer. The Boche dived, losing strips 
of canvas. Went down towards Bertin- 
eourt, out of control. Did not follow him 
to the ground. Two hours, 3,900 meters." 

How simply and frankly Guynemer rec- 
ognizes that an enemy gets the best of him: 

"November 9th, 1916. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. Six fights with single and two-seaters, 
which dived. I attacked a group consisting 
of an Albatros and four single-seaters. 
Hard fight. The Boche had the best of it 
between 4,000 and 2,000. One hour, thirty 
minutes, 4,000 meters. 

"Hunting. I attacked a Boche at Misery 
and another who had surprised Lieutenant 
Deullin at a distance of fifty meters. Two 
hours, thirty minutes, 3,000 meters." 

On the 10th another "Doublet," making 
the nineteenth and twentieth victories : 

"November 10th, 1916. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. I attacked without result three 



S18 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Boches, two of them single-seaters, over 
Roye. At 12:15 brought down a single- 
seater on fire to the south of Nesles (firing 
fifteen shots at less than nineteen meters). 
At 12:25 brought down an Albatros bi- 
plane, 220 horse-power Mercedes motor, in 
the ravine of Morcourt. Boche protected by- 
three single-seaters. Two hours, 3,900 
meters." 

This success brought Guynemer a fifth 
palm upon his War- Cross. It was the third 
double blow achieved by the Ace of Aces. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the days were 
very unfavorable for aviation, he was about 
to add three more victories to his list during 
the month of November. Before doing so 
the hero had to pass through a trying period 
of storm and stress. 

"November 12th, 1916. — Hunting and 
trip Cachy to Pierrefonds. Severe storm. 
Flew over Noyon, the quarters at a height 
of 100 meters, the chief street at fifty meters 



SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 219 

and the railway station at ten meters (I 
could read the name on it) . Fired at from 
time to time by rifles. Fifty minutes, 200 
meters." 

His twenty-first was beaten down four 
days later: 

"November 16th, 1916.— Hunting. Fol- 
lowed a Boche flying high over us, but could 
not catch up with him. At 1 :40 brought 
down a single-seater to the south and be- 
tween Omiecourt and Bertain. Two hours, 
fifteen minutes, 3,700 meters." 

On the next day he gained another vic- 
tory but would not claim it, leaving the 
credit to a comrade who caught the Boche 
as he fell and finished him: 

"November 17th, 1916.— Hunting. I fol- 
lowed three aeroplanes over our lines, but 
could not catch up with them. They came 
back, and I brought down one. (Two hun- 
dred and fifty shots at twenty meters), on 
fire at the north-west border of Liancourt la 



220 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Fosse. Attacked while falling by another 
Spad. One hour, forty-five minutes, 4,400 
meters." 

On the 22nd a fourth "Doublet" gained 
by Guynemer: 

"November 22nd, 1916. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. Beat down a Walfisch to the eastward 
of Saint Christ. Surprised by four Halber- 
stadts; received two bullets in my machine. 
One strut broken. I attacked twelve Hal- 
berstadts, which dived, and then a group of 
three others. One, shot at a distance of ^ve 
meters, seemed about to fall, another dived 
very sharply. Two hours, thirty-five min- 
utes, 3,700 meters." 

This second one was made official through 
confirmations on the ground, and the third 
was probably downed, but was not made 
official. 

On the next day the fight was a hard one, 
but fortune smiled upon our hero, who saw 
the death from very nearby: 



SIX FIGHTS IN TWO HOURS 221 

"ISTovember 23rd, 1916. — Hunting. Six 
fights, jammed when ten meters away from 
an Albatros. One bullet in the radiator, 
another in the back of the seat. Two hours, 
forty-five minutes, 5,200 meters." 

The month of December brought him two 
more victories, so that with the close of the 
year 1916 Guynemer counted twenty-five 
Boches, official, and at least forty in reality! 

"December 26th, 1916. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. I attacked a Halberstadt at twenty- 
five meters. Gun jamming after three 
shots. The Boche dived vertically, but lost 
sight of him. One hour, ten minutes, 4,300 
meters. 

"On hunting circuit. Three fights. 
Gun jammed when five meters from an 
Aviatik. Two hours, 3,600 meters." 

The Ace had lost sight of the Halberstadt 
and conscientiously noted it, but the ob- 
servers on the ground confirmed the fact 



222 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

of the fall, and made official this twenty- 
fourth enemy plane destroyed by him. 

"December 27th, 1916.— Hunting. I at- 
tacked a Walfisch at ten meters. Each of 
us fired about fifteen shots. The Boche cut 
two of my cables, but crashed to earth south 
of La Maisonette. Two hours, 4,300 me- 
ters." 

This was the end of his twenty-fifth vic- 
tim. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

THE FATAL YEAR 

The year 1917 was to be the fatal year. 
Guynemer was to fly less than before, but 
nevertheless, in nine months he was to gain 
twenty-eight official victories, that is three 
more than he had secured in all the time 
before. 

Winter could not stop this indefatigable 
huntsman. On January 7th he gained a 
semi-success : 

"January 7th, 1917. — On hunting circuit. 
Nothing to report. One hour, forty-five 
minutes, 4,000 meters. 

"On hunting circuit. I attacked a two- 
seated Albatros at close quarters near 
Chaulnes. The passengers seemed to be 
absolutely 'knocked out.' After going down 

223 



9.M GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

out of control the Boche straightened him- 
self out. One hour, ten minutes, 2,800 
meters." 

On the twenty-third and twenty-fourth 
two more "Doublets" which allowed Gujnie- 
mer to defeat his twenty-sixth and twenty- 
seventh adversaries on the first day, his 
twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth on the sec- 
ond: 

"January 23rd, 1917. — I attacked a sin- 
gle-seated Albatros and made it dive. Beat 
down a two-seater in flames near Maurepas. 
Made a two-seater dive, out of control, pas- 
senger killed. Made another two-seater 
dive, out of control. Having no more cart- 
ridges and seeing a Boche 800 meters high, 
over Marceleau, tried to make him go down 
by ^persuasion.' At a distance of fifteen 
meters got a bullet through my propeller, 
cutting the cowl. One hour, thirty minutes, 
4,300 meters. 



THE FATAL YEAR 225 

"On hunting circuit. Nothing to report. 
One hour, forty-five minutes, 4,200 meters." 

This account of one day's work is really 
one of the most glorious that could well be 
imagined. Two aeroplanes beaten down, 
two driven out of control and one more 
which the hero tried to force down within 
our lines by 'persuasion.' The twenty-sixth 
victory was obtained at 10 :50 near the rail- 
way station of Maurepas, the twenty- 
seventh, confirmed by observers on the 
ground, at 11 :30 in the suburbs of Chaulnes. 

"January 24th, 1917. — Hunting. I 
brought down an enemy Rumpler at 11:30 
at Lignieres, on fire. Beat down an enemy 
aeroplane over Goyencourt at 11:40. One 
hour, 4,000 meters." 

It would have been difficult to tell the 
story of a double victory more laconically. 

Here is how he set down in his note-book 
the thirtieth victory, won on January 26th, 
1917, his fifth triumph in four days: 



226 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"January 26th, 1917.— Hunting. Made 
an Albatros come down between Mouchy 
and Compiegne by intimidation. The pilot 
when made prisoner, confirmed the destruc- 
tion of the aeroplane at Goyencourt. Ac- 
tive fighting over Montdidier, Estrees and 
Mouchy, on Bucquet's machine. Gun 
jammed after ten shots. Two hours." 

And now Guynemer was to go to Nancy 
to operate there with his famous "Stork 
Squadron." He arrived there on February 
4th. On the 5th he had a break-down which 
compelled him to land. On the 7th he sur- 
prised "a Boche at twenty-five meters over 
Bezanges, fired fifteen shots, when the Boche 
dived, losing his canvas," but this was not 
made official. 

On the 8th at last he achieved his thirty- 
first over a superb Gotha, the first that had 
been brought down within our lines. 

"February 8th, 1917. — On hunting cir- 
cuit. Pursued a three-seater over our ter- 



\ ".' ** "1 



DrFltOrt 9 AVI 



''^A^^Wfitm^t 





l*et erf0lgreicfj|le franjOfildje Hampflliegei: gefaUeit, 

lta:|)USst ^3in}!U't«ei gcss^fe grwfjei; iHuI}«; S'.ti frGHjaufdHni iyc^ti, i^a ec 'O r^li'-ci' 
^eu^e ab|:ieid)£>ffen C)a&cn rooStc. ^on t<icion tft |c<5od) Havlifit^'jic'tnerinafiCR cue 
arof^c 3^'^}^' wenn uHd) &e!d)at>uit, trt tine AUt3!)GfcH s.Hrtla-!C(c:!rt lira fccislfti'V-u 
?(>it^ cine y^jcinn dfttng intnic-iili i> ^ti J?iac!)in, antr5?e« in feea lesUeit iSJonaion Cit 
ini& S;atu«! stmn' aikiebiti'u'ii t'uft!iCi]c ni J)t Bi«l)r ajttiegffecn. IIc&ce feutc ^{ampf> 

Cffl out tscn QA-i fciniHlciifscH crfatnut'H (SeiiiuT; 8i>ct tt floa funiceiUana Ut fjti'n'ru 
$6l)cn aSlcin l)tn!a- feer frait'dUfdicn ^^roKt m& \im\ti ?ld) sea o&on Ijcrafc yvii- 
rafd)e«» auf cia^cln fficqeiDC ScatfdjC a3eobad)tisngSfUi<5?ciTge. Static (il.ininiM- 
fciim crfTCR Sorftofi Mnm (Jifols, fo &rad? cr i)a0 ®cfecl>t foforj ao; iv..> ben 
longer tiaamtben, U!Gf}rfjaftmiUcr|?i"o&«tijeri Sisocnfcmpf Itcg ey fjd) rddjt gent ein. 



Guynemer's pilot-card, reproduced in "Die JVoche," of 
Berlin, after his death. 



pit us, }>, i ; i :.; r i ; , 



Visiting card of a Boche brought doivn 
hy Guynemer. 



THE FATAL YEAR 227 

ritory and overtook it near Toul. Fired two 
short volleys and then a single shot at ten 
meters, because my gun jammed. Their 
left motor stalled and the Boches gave the 
gesture "Kamerade." At this moment at- 
tacked and forced me to leave on account of 
its fire. The Boche came down at Boucon- 
ville. Two hours." 

On February 10th he killed a passenger, 
smashed the tank of the aeroplane he was 
attacking, which, however, seemed to 
straighten itself out at 500 meters from the 
ground, and was going either to land or to 
crash down in the woods of Bessaincourt, 
making the confirmation impossible. 

Meanwhile Georges Guynemer had passed 
to a captaincy. He was to adorn his grade 
in his own way: on March 16th, for the first 
time officially, he was to bring down three 
aeroplanes in one day, one for each stripe ! 

"March 16th, 1917. — On hunting circuit. 
I beat down a biplane Albatros on fire near 



228 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Courbessant. Attacked three single-seaters 
near Ebervillers. One of them dived 
sharply, wounded by me. He landed within 
our lines: Lieutenant von Hansen. An- 
other took fire and fell, brought down by a 
Spad (Lieutenant DeuUin). One hour, 
thirty minutes. 

"Beat down an Albatros on fire within our 
lines, near Regnieville. Made a small two- 
seater dive in the same neighborhood. One 
hour, 3,600 meters." 

The hero would not rest upon his laurels, 
for on the next day he achieved his thirty- 
fifth success: 

"March 17th, 1917. — On hunting circuit. 
Brought down a two-seater, on fire to the 
east of Attiloncourt. One hour, forty-five 
minutes, 4,000 meters." 

While flying four hours and a quarter he 
had brought down four Boches! 

From March 17th to April 8th, 1917, 
Guynemer went to the rear to advise with a 



THE FATAL YEAR 229 

commission which was devising a new method 
of arming the aeroplane which was to trans- 
form the machine into the "magic Aero- 
plane." We can not of course be more ex- 
plicit as to details, for obvious reasons. 

On April 13th he brought down out of 
control two Albatroses and on the next day 
secured his thirty-sixth victory: 

"April 14th, 1917.— I attacked a two- 
seater, gun jammed, got six bullets myself. 
Forty-five minutes, 4,000 meters. 

"Hunting circuit. Attacked a small Al- 
batros, brought it down afire over La Neu- 
ville (N-W of Brienne). Saw six single- 
seaters, Albatroses, at a great distance. One 
hour, thirty minutes, 4,000 meters." 

May, 1917, was to be the most glorious 
month in all the career of the Ace. It 
yielded him seven victories achieved in twen- 
ty-seven days, but we must not forget that 
between the 5th and the 24th Guynemer was 
away from the front. 



230 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Here we give a careful copy of his note- 
book for all the period of glory: 

May 1st, 1917. — Buc-Bonne-Maison. One 
hour, fifteen minutes. 

"May 2nd, 1917. — On hunting circuit. 
One fight. Two hours, fifteen minutes, 5,000 
meters. 

"Hunting. Four fights, one jamming, 
but I brought down one Albatros of a group 
of four, on fire. Two hours, ten minutes. 

"May 3rd, 1917. — Hunting circuit. 
Wounded an Albatros seriously to the north 
of the Malmaison front. One hour. 

"Hunting circuit. Nothing to report. 
One hour, thirty-five minutes, 5,000 meters. 

"May 4th, 1917.— Hunting circuit. Two 
fights. I killed a passenger. I attacked 
three two-seated Albatroses, one of which 
was brought down within our lines. One 
hour, fifty minutes, 5,000 meters. 

"From 5th to 24th trying out my aero- 
plane. 



THE FATAL YEAR ^31 

"May 25th, 1917. — Hunting circuit, four 
fights. I brought down a two-seater at 
8:30, which lost one wing and crashed into 
the trees some 1,200 meters N-N-W of 
Corbeny. At 8:31 I brought down another, 
a two-seater, on fire, near Jusancourt. To- 
gether with Captain Auger, forced a two- 
seater to dive from 600 meters to a kilo- 
meter within our lines. No more cartridges. 
Two hours. 

"Hunting circuit. Brought down a 
D.F.W. on fire at Courlandon. Forty min- 
utes. 

"Hunting circuit. Brought down a two- 
seater on fire between Guignicourt and 
Conde sur Suippes. With Captain Auger, 
scattered a group of six single-seaters. Two 
hours. 

"May 26th, 1917.— Hunting. During a 
fight my motor balked. Landed in the fields. 
Arose again. Brought down a two-seated 
Albatros at 10 o'clock to the west of Conde 



232 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

sur Suippes. Two hours, fifteen minutes, 
4,500 meters. 

"Hunting circuit. Four fights, one of 
which was against four single-seater Al- 
batroses. Gun jammed. One of the single- 
seaters carried a No. 2 black gun, seen before 
at Nancy. One hour. 

"May 27th, 1917.— Hunting. While 
alone I attacked six two-seaters over Auber- 
ive at 4,900 meters. I forced all six down 
to 3,600 meters (three fights). Then at- 
tacked eight Boches, forcing one down from 
4,000 to 800 meters, tearing off the canvas 
from my fuselage. He was taken up by a 
Spad and crashed down in a shell-crater. 
Taken prisoner. One hour, ten minutes, 
4,900 meters. 

"May 28th, 1917.— On hunting circuit. 
Attacked a two-seater over Bienne at 8:45. 
Attacked a two-seater which landed. Gun 
jammed at the second shot fired at a single- 
seater surprised at point-blank range, 



THE FATAL YEAR 233 

painted white and black, longitudinally, in 
stripes about five centimeters wide. One 
hour, forty minutes. 

"On hunting circuit. Two fights. Jammed 
gun. One hour, thirty minutes. 

"May 29th, 1917.— Bonne-Maison-Cor- 
beaulieu. One hour, 600 meters. 

"May 30th, 1917.— Returned. Fight with 
four single-seaters. Gun jammed. One 
hour, fifteen minutes, 3,300 meters. 

"Bonne-Maison. Villacoublay. Paris. 
One hour, 500 meters. 

"Return. One hour, 500 meters." 

Thus in the month of May Guynemer had 
added to his list his thirty-seventh, thirty- 
eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, for- 
ty-second and forty-third victims, of which 
four had been secured on one day, and one 
on the next day, an exploit never approached 
in French aviation. ( Since that time Lieu- 
tenant Fonck, on May 9th, 1918, brought 
down six aeroplanes, two of them in ten 



S34 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

seconds, passing from his thirty-sixth to his 
forty-second victory. ) Other successes only 
probable went to make up this almost incon- 
ceivable record. 

The Ace of Aces was to fly very little 
during the month of June, a total of only 
twenty-one hours of actual flight. He was 
at the front only from the third to the sixth 
and from the fifteenth to the eighteenth, so 
that in these eight days he accomplished all 
that he could. On the third he made a two- 
seater dive and killed the passenger of an 
Albatros, which he forced to land. A Boche 
attacked by him jumped into space. On 
the fourth Guynemer took part in eight com- 
bats, in two hours and thirty minutes, in 
various groups. He came back with four 
bullets in his aeroplane, a spar severed, one 
control of his banking rudder cut. One of 
his enemies seemed to be seriously wounded. 
And on the fifth he secured another "Dou- 



THE FATAL YEAR 235 

blet," his forty- fourth and forty-fifth vic- 
tims: 

"June 5th, 1917. — Hunting circuit. One 
fight without results. One hour. 

"Hunting circuit. Attacked an Albatros 
at 3,600 meters to East of Berry du Bac. 
Brought down in our lines at 5:15. At- 
tacked a D.F.W. at 4,500 meters, East of 
Rheims. In the beginning several Spads 
were in the fight. The Boche dived within 
our lines. My gun jammed when I was at 
point-blank distance from him. At this mo- 
ment the passenger gave the gesture: 
*Kamerad.' I gave him the signal several 
times to land within our lines, but he con- 
tinued to make off towards his own. At 
2,200 meters I got my gun firing and sent 
fifteen shots at him. The machine turned 
over suddenly, throwing out the passenger, 
and fell in the forest of Berm at 5 :30. At- 
tacked three Boches without result. One 
hour, thirty minutes." 



2S6 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

In July four more victories, the forty- 
seventh, forty-eighth, forty-ninth and fif- 
tieth, even though at this time Guynemer 
was the victim of the beginning of that poi- 
soning which was to keep him away from his 
squadron from the eighth to the twenty- 
second. He took flight on only seven days ! 

"July 6th, 1917.— Fight with five two- 
seaters. Brought down a D.F.W. at about 
10:55. Two hours. 

"Hunting circuit. Fight with an Alba- 
tros painted gray with red bands. One hour 
and thirty minutes. 

"July 7th, 1917.— Hunting. With Ad- 
jutant Bozon Verduraz, attacked four sin- 
gle-seated Albatroses near Brimont. Beat 
down one on fire to north of Villers Fran- 
queux, in our lines. Attacked a D.F.W. 
which fell in a tail-spin, flat within our lines 
at Moussy. Two hours, ten minutes. 

"On hunting circuit. Nothing to report. 
Two hours." 



THE FATAL YEAR 23T 

"July 27th, 1917. — On hunting circuit on 
my aeroplane. Went around with Lieu- 
tenant DeuUin. Brought down on fire be- 
tween Longemarck and Roulers a single- 
seated Albatros (probably of the latest 
model, very powerful, 220 horse-power 
motor) out of a patrol of six or eight over 
which it was flying at some fifty meters 
height. Fired one projectile and eight bul- 
lets at between five and twenty meters. One 
hour, fifty minutes. 

"July 28th, 1917.— On hunting circuit 
{my aeroplane) . Brought down a D.F.W. 
on fire over Westrobecke. Fired two pro- 
jectiles (20 and 150 meters distance) and 
thirty shots. Got five bullets myself: in the 
angle-iron of the tail, in a spar, a strut, in 
the exhaust-pipe and the cowl. One hour, 
forty-five minutes." 

And here are his last victories, reported in 
August, 1917! 

"August 17th, 1917.— On hunting circuit. 



238 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Brought down a two-seated Albatros at 
Wlasdos with my machine-gun at 8:20. 
Brought down a D.F.W. in a tail-spin at 
9:25, with a projectile to the South of Dix- 
mude. It took fire at 1,500 meters. One 
hour, fifty-five minutes." 

Under these circumstances the Ace had 
used his special apparatus. 

"August 20th, 1917. — Brought down a 
D.F.W. on fire near Poperinghe. Two 
hours, fifteen minutes." 

These are the fifty-first, fifty-second and 
fifty -third Boches secured by Captain Guy- 
nemer. 

Before his death he added some fourteen 
hours and twenty minutes to his flying-time, 
but had all kinds of trouble with his motor 
and his machine-gun. His other machine 
was being repaired. 

On Tuesday, September 11th, the great 
hero departed on patrol. He never came 
back again! 



THE FATAL YEAR 239 

"Account of Second Lieutenant Bozon 
Verduraz : 

"Captain Guynemer left at 8 :25 on patrol 
with Second Lieutenant Bozon Verduraz; 
disappeared in the course of a combat with 
a two-seater over Poelcapelle (Belgium)." 

Thus closes the second note-book of Cap- 
tain Guynemer. These notes constitute one 
of the most magnificent chapters in the His- 
tory of France, showing among other things, 
that the Ace of Aces had been in flight for 
a total of seven hundred and fifty-five hours. 



APPENDIX 

THE ACTION OF THE FRENCH CONGRESS AND 

SENATE 

It has seemed indispensable to the com- 
pleteness of this work to present an account 
of the historic meetings of the Chamber of 
Deputies and the Senate in which the Par- 
liament voted the resolution under which a 
tablet was to be placed in the Pantheon to 
perpetuate the memory of Captain Guyne- 
mer. 

The Meeting of the Chamber of Deputies 
held October 19th, 1917. 

Adoption of a proposed Resolution to per- 
petuate the Memory of Captain Guynemer. 

President: — The Order of the Day calls 
for the discussion of the conclusions of the 
Commission of the Army, upon the request 

240 



APPENDIX 241 

for the immediate discussion of the Resolu- 
tion made by M. Lasies and several of his 
colleagues, towards the perpetuation of the 
Memory of Captain Guynemer. 

The Commission of the Army has decided 
upon immediate discussion. Is there any 
opposition to this immediate discussion? It 
is so ordered. M, Lasies has the floor for 
general discussion. 

M. Lasies: — Gentlemen: Captain Guy- 
nemer belonged to Squadron No. 3 which 
was known to the French People and to 
their enemies as well as the "Stork Squad- 



ron." 



This squadron was organized in April, 
1915, with a membership of ten active pilots. 
To-day it counts: killed or disappeared, 
twenty-two ; wounded, twenty-three. It has 
had six squadron chiefs: three killed. Cap- 
tain Auger, Second Lieutenant Peretti, 
Captain Guynemer; three wounded: Com- 



242 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

mandant Brocard, Captain Heurtaux, Lieu- 
tenant Deullin. 

It has seemed to me fitting, that the voice 
of a friend whom Captain Guynemer hon- 
ored with fihal affection, should be added to 
the voices of his companions in arms and his 
chiefs. I ask permission to read two letters 
to the Chamber. 

The first is from Lieutenant Raymond, 
the present Commander of the Squadron of 
the "Storks," one of the two survivors of its 
organization in 1915 : 

"My Captain: Having had the honor of 
commanding Squadron No. 3 in the absence 
of Captain Heurtaux, kept in the hospital 
by his latest wound, I wish to thank you in 
the name of the few surviving * Storks' for 
what you have done in memory of Captain 
Guynemer. 

"He was our friend and our master, our 
pride and our protection. His loss is the 



APPENDIX 243 

most cruel of all those, alas so numerous! 
which have illumined our ranks. 

"You may well believe that, nevertheless, 
our courage has not been crushed with him. 
Our glorious revenge will be hard and in- 
exorable. 

"The great soul of Guynemer will often 
greet our cockades in the battle of the skies 
that we may ever keep aflame the fire which 
he has left to us ! 

"Lieutenant Raymond^ 
"Commandant of Squadron No. 3." 

At the same time I received a letter from 
his chief, Commandant Brocard, who was the 
leader of that hunting-group : 

"My dear Deputy and Comrade: — 

"I am greatly moved by the thought which 
you have conceived of consecrating the glory 
of Captain Guynemer by demanding that 
the Country accord to him the honors of the 
Pantheon. 



2U GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

"All of us have dreamed about this, struck 
by the idea that its cupola alone spread 
widely enough to shelter such wings. 

"The poor boy fell with his face to the 
enemy, struck by a bullet in the head, at the 
height of his triumph. 

"He had sworn to -me a few days before 
that the Germans would never get him alive. 

"His heroic fall is no more glorious in- 
deed than the death of the artillerist fallen 
over his cannon, of the infantryman killed 
in the charge, or that more lugubrious death 
of the soldier engulfed in the swamp. 

"But for more than two years every one 
saw him cleaving the skies, whether illum- 
ined by the bright sun, or over-cast by som- 
ber tempests, bearing upon his poor wings 
a part of their dreams, of their faith in suc- 
cess and all the confidence and hope of their 
hearts. 

"It was for them, for the sappers, the ar- 
tillerists, the infantrymen, that he fought 



APPENDIX 245 

with all the rancor of his hatred, all the 
audacity of his youth, all the joy of his 
triumphs. 

"Certain that the struggle would be fatal 
to him, but sure that on board his war-bird 
he would save thousands of lives, seeing com- 
batants like himself born in his own image, 
he remained faithful to his destiny, faithful 
in the sacrifices which he made long before 
and which he saw coming calmly. 

"A modest soldier, but conscious of the 
greatness of his part, he had the fine qual- 
ities of the soil which he so well defended, 
the tenacity, the perseverance in effort, the 
unconsciousness of danger, to which he added 
the frankest and most generous of hearts. 

"His short life knew neither regrets, suf- 
ferings nor disillusions. 

"Coming from the lyceum where he was 
learning the history of France, he left it 
only to write one more page in it; he went 
to the war, his willing eyes fixed upon his 



246 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

aim, urged on by I know not what mys- 
terious force, which I respected, as we re- 
spect the dead or genius. 

"Guynemer was merely a powerful idea 
in a very frail body, and I lived near him 
with the secret sorrow of knowing that some 
day the idea would slay its container. 

"Sir Deputy, ask that the Pantheon be 
his last home, where they have already placed 
mothers and children. 

"His protecting wings will not be out of 
place there, and beneath the dome where 
those who have given us our patrimony 
sleep, they will be a symbol of those who 
have guarded it for us. 

"Commandant Brocard." 

Gentlemen: For three years, our army, 
faithfully supported by our allies, has writ- 
ten pages which will stand as the admiration 
and astonishment of history. 

To our soldiers of all ranks, of all arms, 
and at this moment my mind flies especially 



APPENDIX 247 

to those hidden heroes of the common trench 
whose poor remains scattered by shells have 
neither tomb nor cross to which those who 
weep may come and mourn ; to all, infantry, 
artillery, cavalry, aviators and engineers 
there is but one "Name" which can symbol- 
ize the grandeur of their sacrifice. 

We select the name of this child who, in 
unforgettable prowess flew above our bat- 
tle-front, that land of France all soaked in 
blood and glory, of which the least drop 
would suffice to efface the pitiable individual 
failings which we have to deplore. 

The homage which we render to Guyne- 
mer is homage rendered to the most heroic 
of armies and also to the most stoical of 
Nations by a Parliament which, I have the 
courage to state, has, for three years, made 
every effort to prove itself worthy of both. 

Gentlemen, let us stop an instant and by 
a unanimous vote, answer that great voice 
of the dead, from the tombs and the air, 



248 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

which we hear always, by a proud Hallelu- 
jah of hope and victory. 

President: — The reporter for the Com- 
mission has the floor. 

M. Henry Pate, the Reporter: — Gentle- 
men, the Commission of the Army asks you 
to adopt the proposition of our honorable 
colleague, M. Lasies, a proposition to which 
it has given unanimous consent. 

In the person of Captain Guynemer, 
whose career M. Lasies has presented with 
so much power, in the person, I may say of 
the "Ace of Aces," that most beloved and 
popular soldier, your Army-Commission, 
like yourselves, wishes to glorify all of the 
warriors who for more than three years have 
fought with such heroism and abnegation, 
and all of the obscure heroes who have fallen 
for their country. 

It is proper to combine for this homage all 
the workers at the rear, who have labored 
zealously in all departments to insure the 



APPENDIX M9 

advance of the armies, those workmen in the 
factories, who ceaselessly forge the arms of 
victory; in a word, all the Nation, gentle- 
men, which has set a fine example of pa- 
tience, calmness and courage, virtues more 
needed than ever before in these troublous 
times through which we are passing. 

The proposition which we have the honor 
of submitting to you is one of those which 
requires no lengthy discussion: we ask that 
it be adopted by acclamation. 

I have stated in my report all that was 
necessary; I have told of all the glory and 
all the courage manifested by that youth, 
that hero of whom we fashion a symbol to- 
day. The name of Guynemer will be in its 
proper place in the Pantheon, and in the 
"Gold Book" which we shall institute if we 
adopt the suggestion of our colleague, Paul 
Escudier, his name will be the first on the 
list, alas too long, of all the citizen-soldiers 



250 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

who have died to save their country and the 
liberties of the vi^orld. 

President: — The Under-Secretary of 
State has the floor. 

M. Jacques Louis Dumesnil, Under-Sec- 
retary of State for Military and Maritime 
Aeronautics — Gentlemen: The Govern- 
ment is in full accord with the proposition 
originated by our colleague, M. Lasies, and 
which our colleague, M. Pate, has just re- 
ported out of the Commission of the Army. 

Very soon measures will be taken for en- 
graving the name of Captain Guynemer on 
the glorious tablets of the Pantheon. 

But already that heroic youth who is 
mourned by the Nation and its army, has 
gone straight to Immortality, with the 
greatest of those who, during the ages, "have 
died devoted deaths for the Country." 

The legend of his life is already woven 
into the unbreakable web of the History of 
France. 



APPENDIX 251 

To-morrow, by our homage, we shall 
honor his memory beneath the dome of the 
National Temple. 

Meanwhile he lies beneath the vault of 
the heaven which he conquered, in that mur- 
dered and sanctified earth, of the trench-line, 
amid so many of his brethren, soldiers of all 
arms. 

We all join in the same homage: in which 
the shining glory symbolizes the aspirations 
and enthusiasms of the National Army, and 
his comrades in hunting, of the army corps, 
of bombarding, and all those also, the hidden 
heroes, sometimes even anonymous, who each 
day pay the supreme sacrifice for the re- 
covery of the soil of their native land, die to 
secure the peace and liberty of future gen- 
erations, and who, for three years, have be- 
queathed their grief, and glory to France, 
enriching it with the most magnificent treas- 
ure of honor ever possessed by any land. 

Guynemer has fallen; but his wings are 



252 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

not broken, and already through the same 
paths in the skies, they are leading to victory 
all that shining Pleiad of those who would 
avenge their youthful leader and comrade. 

The acknowledgment of all the country 
will perpetuate the name of Guynemer, and 
raise his example to lofty heights. 

May it be permitted me, to-day, in bring- 
ing him the highest homage of the Govern- 
ment of the Republic, simply to read the two 
last citations given this hero. They sum up 
all the noble life of this Twenty-three-year- 
old Captain, aureoled by youth and honor. 

Here they are. Gentlemen. One is the 
citation of June, 1917, when he was made 
an Officer of the Legion of Honor : 

"An elite officer, a fighting pilot as skill- 
ful as audacious. He has rendered glowing 
service to the Country, both by the number 
of his victories and the daily example which 
he has set of burning ardor and even greater 
mastery increasing from day to day. Un- 



APPENDIX 253 

conscious of danger, on account of his sure- 
ness of method and precision of manoeuvers 
he has become the most redoubtable of all 
to the enemy. On May 25th, 1917, he ac- 
complished one of his most brilliant exploits, 
beating down two enemy aeroplanes in one 
minute, and gaining two more victories on 
the same day. By all of his exploits he has 
contributed towards exalting the courage 
and enthusiasm of those who, from the 
trenches, were the witnesses of his triumphs. 
He has brought down forty-five aeroplanes, 
received twenty citations and been wounded 
twice." 

And now here is that very beautiful Cita- 
tion by which the chief of the army in whose 
ranks he fought, only a few days ago, has 
summed up, I may say, all the career of this 
soldier : 

General Order of October 16th, 1917. 

"The General commanding the First 
Army cites in the order of the army. Cap- 



254 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

tain Guynemer, commandant of Squadron 
No. 3. 

"Died on the field of honor, September 
11th, 1917. A hero of legendary power fell 
under the open heavens of glory, after three 
years of hard fighting. He will long remain 
the purest symbol of the race. 

"Of indomitable tenacity, boundless en- 
ergy, sublime courage. Animated by a mov- 
ing faith in victory, he has bequeathed to the 
French soldier an imperishable legacy of rec- 
ollections which will raise high the spirit of 
sacrifice and bring forth the noblest emula- 
tion." 

Gentlemen, I have ordered that, to-mor- 
row, Saturday, October 20th, in all the avia- 
tion-schools of France, to the four corners 
of our territory, homage is to be rendered to 
Captain Guynemer, at the same hour, before 
the troops, before those who are now pre- 
paring to follow in his footsteps. I believe 
that thus we shall honor most highly the 



APPENDIX 255 

memory of him whom we all mourn, and that 
no lesson could be grander. 

I wish to state to the Chamber that, in 
order to arm our aerial fleet to the maximum 
no effort will be relaxed, no negligence will 
be tolerated, and all routine will be broken. 

And this will be another way of render- 
ing homage to the memory of Captain Guy- 
nemer. 

More and more every day the most power- 
ful methods are being employed so that our 
aviation may dominate the enemy and have 
absolute mastery of the air, which I pro- 
foundly believe will at the decisive time be 
an essential condition of victory. 

President: — Does any one else wish the 
floor for general discussion? I ask the 
Chamber if it wishes to go from discussion to 
speciflc action? 

(Being decided so to do.) 

President : — Specific Action. The Cham- 
ber asks the Government to have placed in 



256 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

the Pantheon an inscription intended to per- 
petuate the memory of Captain Guynemer, 
as a symbol of the aspirations and enthu- 
siasm of the Army of the Nation." 

Does any one wish the floor? I shall put 
the question. 

(The Deputies all rise.) 

The resolution is adopted unanimously. 

Record of the Meeting of the Senate, Oc- 
tober 25th, 1917. 

Adoption of a proposed Resolution in 
Honor of Captain Guynemer. 

President: — I have received from Messrs. 
Gaston, Menier, Clemenceau, and others a 
proposition of a Resolution in the following 
terms : 

"The Senate : Joining in the homage ren- 
dered by the Government and the Chamber 
of Deputies to glorify the memory of Cap- 
tain Guynemer, the hero of the air, by an in- 
scription in the Pantheon. 

"In him salutes the spirit of sacrifice, ab- 



APPENDIX 257 

negation and energy of all the combatants in 
the armies of the Republic, who for three 
years have fallen for their native Land." 

M. Gaston Menier asks for immediate ac- 
tion on his proposition and its return to the 
Army Commission. According to the rule, 
I shall present this to the Senate, at the close 
of the meeting. ( Voices — Now, Now. ) 

M. Paul Strauss: — Such a proposition 
should be considered at once. 

Several Senators: — ^We request imme- 
diate action ! 

President: — If there is no objection, we 
shall take it up immediately (Unanimous) . 

President: — I shall ask for a vote. The 
proposition is sent to the Army Commis- 
sion. 

M. Gaston Menier: — The Army Commis- 
sion having examined the proposed resolu- 
tion, and has instructed me to present it in 
its name. 

Gentlemen: On October 19th, 1917, the 



258 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously 
and by acclamation the proposal of the fol- 
lowing resolution, which had been presented 
by M. Lasies and his colleagues : 

"The Chamber asks the Government to 
have placed in the Pantheon an inscription 
intended to perpetuate the memory of Cap- 
tain Guynemer, as a symbol of the aspira- 
tions and enthusiasm of the Army of the Na- 
tion." 

The Government, through Under Secre- 
tary of State J. L. Dumesnil, offers its 
warmest support of the project and ap- 
proves it, the resolution of the Senate read- 
ing as follows : 

''The Senate: Joining in the homage ren- 
dered by the Government and the Chamber 
of Deputies to glorify the memory of Cap- 
tain Guynemer, the hero of the air, by an 
inscription in the Pantheon to his memory, 
&c." ■ --'-''''^ 

"Who is there among us," said M. Menier, 



APPENDIX 259 

"who has not admired more and more every- 
day, the prowess of that young and glorious 
aviator, Georges Guynemer, whose renown 
spread so quickly all over the world? Who 
of us, while reading the news of the aviators 
has not trembled at times when considering 
his tremendous triumphs? 

"Who, then, was this Guynemer, whose 
reputation was made so glorious and so 
quickly? Guynemer was a child of France, 
frail and delicate, who recovering twice from 
severe attacks upon his constitution, tried in 
vain to be accepted when he came from col- 
lege. He was nineteen years old. After 
many attempts he at last succeeded in gain- 
ing admittance as a mechanic-apprentice in 
an aviation-school. He was already dream- 
ing of great things, and if he dreamed of 
aviation it was because he knew that in this 
new 'Arm' he would be able to utilize all 
that great energy of which he felt himself 
possessed. He foresaw its importance and 



mo GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

development. He soon became the bril- 
liant, invincible champion. 

"He began flying in April, 1915, and at 
once manifested his wonderful will-power. 
Great indeed was his joy when he gained 
possession of one of those speedy Nieuports 
with which he was to establish his mastery 
of hunting in the air. His first victory took 
place July 19th, 1915; he fought at Verdun 
with all his might and from victory upon vic- 
tory his name flew to all lips. But he was 
wounded. Scarce was he better before he 
was fighting again. He became Second 
Lieutenant, and without respite, he brought 
new glory daily to the famous 'Stork 
Squadron,' the celebrated No. 3. On one 
day he brought down foiu: aeroplanes, but 
with all his triumphs he was still charmingly 
modest. His rewards came rapidly. His 
palms were no longer counted. He was 
named as a Chevalier, then as an officer of 



APPENDIX 261 

the Legion of Honor. And then, see him 
Captain at twenty-two 1 

"This timid young man, but so resolute, 
expressed daily the cold resolve to win; his 
youthful face became an aureole which the 
crowd admired and his example inspired the 
nimierous experts who all loved him and 
were never jealous of his triumphs. 

"He had just achieved his fifty-third vic- 
tory and, a few days before he returned to 
the front, the signer of this report had the 
honor to talk with him in the midst of his 
friends. We said to him: 'Stop a moment, 
you must not tempt fate for ever, we need 
you for our victory.' But he answered us, 
resolutely: 

" 'My place is at the front, always in 
front. I have been brought down seven 
times, and I have always been able to escape ; 
I am going back there!' 

"He did as he had said and only a few 
days later we heard with anguish that he had 



262 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

disappeared in the course of a combat be- 
yond our lines. We hoped, nevertheless, not- 
withstanding the cruel impression left by 
that awful word, 'disappeared,' which too 
many of us have learned to understand. 

"Alas, that last engagement was to be 
fatal, for an implacable bullet struck him in 
the head when he was TOO meters in the 
air, blotting him out forever ! 

"You have seen in the report from the 
other Assembly the letters from his com- 
rades and his chiefs, his citations. Poor, but 
glorious son of France! He has deserved 
much from his Country. If his body has 
fallen, shrouded in his aeroplane, upon that 
soil of Flanders, already besprinkled with so 
much blood, his pure spirit has remained in 
the highest heights of the blue heavens, and 
his fine example, ardently followed by his 
comrades, proves that he remains forever 
alive in the heart of each one of them. 

"But, Gentlemen, if we thus celebrate the 



APPENDIX S63 

glory of Guynemer, it is because we take him 
as the symbol of our race, with his beautiful 
bravery, his resolute courage and his valiant 
energy. 

"Our homage personifies in his name the 
prodigies accomplished by all his competi- 
tors and by all the combatants, young or 
old, by all those heroes, too often remaining 
unknown and who, like he, simply did their 
duty and fell for France. To all of them 
our acknowledgments go forth. 

"But acknowledgments are not enough. 
It is necessary that the example of valiant 
Guynemer serve us by bringing home to us 
absolutely the conviction of the necessity for 
victory in the air without which we can not 
secure victory upon the ground. 

"We must be inspired by the prodigies 
which he performed to judge of the impor- 
tance which should be attached to aviation in 
all its forms. The example of Guynemer 
will beget pilots ; it is for us to raise up the 



264 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

machines which will give them power and 
the mastery. For this reason we may ap- 
preciate all of the acknowledgments which 
we owe to Captain Guynemer, whose ex- 
ample has served us splendidly towards has- 
tening the hour of victory. 

"Gentlemen, your Army Commission pro- 
poses the unanimous adoption of the reso- 
lution which it has offered. 

"Gentlemen, I have said to you that Guy- 
nemer was a symbol and an example. He is 
really a symbol, because he incarnated all 
of the qualities of our race, audacity, intre- 
pidity, tenacity, perseverance in effort and 
throughout all confidence and hope. He was 
an example, because the consciousness of 
having done his duty, nobly, without osten- 
tation, or pomp, with an energy which never 
relaxed, allows us to see that he offered to 
his Country the sacrifice of his life. 

"Permit me to add, in closing, that in the 
midst of the disappearance of so many of 



APPENDIX m5 

our youths, of so many deeds of courage, 
known and unknown, done by our incom- 
parable Poilus who have done their duty so 
grandly and simply, the face of Captain 
Guynemer planes in a heaven of apotheosis. 
We see him in that glowing ride, dominat- 
ing space, showing with his speedy, mobile 
aeroplane, the direction of the whirlwinds of 
battle and the combats behind which little by 
little the sun of victory rises, which he never 
was to see, but for which he had made the 
way. 

"His glory is pure and truly French; as 
we write his name upon the cupola of the 
Pantheon, we are writing one more brilliant 
page in the glory and grandeur of our 
France." 

M. J. L. Dumesnil, Under-Secretary of 
State for Aviation: — Gentlemen: In ask- 
ing the Governmerxt to inscribe the name of 
Captain Guynemer on the vault of the Pan- 



^66 GUYNEMER, THE ACE OF ACES 

theon, the Senate is certainly the interpreter 
of unanimous France. 

Dead in the broad heaven of glory, and 
this is his last citation : 

"Brother of Assas, of Marceau, of Hoche, 
he has bequeathed his glory to his country; 
he has also bequeathed to it a great hope, 
and his native land, through the generations 
still to be, will immortalize the recollection 
of one of its finest soldiers of victory." 

The resolution was passed unanimously, 
amid wild applause. Finally the Minister 
of Public Instruction and the Fine Arts, so 
as to connect the youth of France with the 
national homage rendered to the hero and 
his companions in arms, addressed an order 
to all scholastic establishments requiring all 
principals, directors and heads of colleges 
of every kind, to read to all of the pupils, 
while standing at attention, the resolution of 
the Chamber of Deputies, which decided that 



APPENDIX 267 

the name of Captain Guynemer was to be 
inscribed upon the walls of the Pantheon. 

In every corps of the French Army the 
resolution was also read. 



FINIS 



r^ 



9 9 6 











Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proca 
Neutralizing agent: Maanesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: wN 2QQI 

V- 

\ O^ ^ , A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATI 

111 Thomson Park Drive 



PreservationTechnoiogiei 



Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



\' 



^^< ,.^^^ 



% c,^ 



'X^ 




